Contrasting Wood on a Slant

 I have toying with the idea of making an object with a center section of wood that is slanted.  I had made a box with different horizontal layers but thought how about one where a section of wood was at an angle to the general turning.  I looked at having the wood cut at 30, 60 and 45 degrees to the axis,  I finally selected 45 degrees to the axis.  To cut the wood on an angle I choose to use my table saw.  Since the block of wood was short, I decide I needed more control.

I glued the block of wood to a board.  You can see the paper bag I used between the board and the block of wood to allow easy separation later on.  

You can see how I mounted the board to the miter to ensure I would get a smooth cut and no wiggling.   I used an Incra 1000 SE miter with adjustable slide wheels that remove an slop in the miter slide.   It also has more area to clamp the board to.  

Unfortunately, the blade did not cut completely thru the block.  I use the band saw to cut the remainder of the wood.  I choose not to use the band saw for the actual cut because I have had the band saw blade bend and I wanted a smooth surface for gluing.   I got rid of of the edge using a belt sander.  

To glue the contrasting wood on at a 45 degree angle I secured the board in my vise at 45 degrees and then used a weight to press the wood down.  I noticed that I did not have the wood aligned correctly and removed the wood before the glue set.  Notice in the picture below that I drew lines to help align the maple wood correctly.

To keep the dark wood in place and not slide, I CA glued a small strip of wood a the base to keep the wood from moving while clamped.  

Clamps removed.  You can see the lip I added and the alignment lines on the maple. 
 

I then glued another piece of birdseye maple on the bottom using the board to help align the wood.  

 

I used a screw driver to remove the board from the block.  You can see the remnants of the paper bag.  

I used a band saw to cut the maple that was sticking out past the dark wood.  I then glued a mounting block to the bottom to make turning the bottom easier.  

Here the wood has been turned round and the finishing touches need to be done.  The darker wood is actually softer than the maple with a courser grain. 

This is the finished shape.  As I was turning it the cracks in the end became more difficult to work with and were cut off and the two section mounting block separated and I had to clamp on to the darker wood of the mounting block.  I used a Forstner bit to hollow out the main section of the wood using an extension to get to the depth I wanted.   I then set up my stabilizer wheels to hold the extended wood secure and used my boring bar to hollow out the inside past what the Forstner bit did.  

I turned the wood around to finish the bottom and here in lies another story.  The rubber feet holding the top section in the chuck I made using a wood dowel and clear rubber hose.  For this small of a diameter I could only use four pads on the chuck.   As I was cutting a recess on the bottom I discovered the bottom was too thing and I had three small holes in it.  It was so thin light would come thru the bottom.   I cut a hole in the bottom without the stabilizer wheels and it was off center.  Badly off center.   I decided I would use my drill press to drill a hole using a Forstner bit.  That missed up the end real bad as I could not hold the piece of wood steady.  Back to the stabilizer wheels.  To protect the finish I wrapped several layers of masking tape, which is easier to remove from wood then duct tape, and then added the more durable duct tape on top of that.  Once Stable I was able to  cut off the damaged wood and use a 2" Forstner bit to cut a recess in the wood.  I cut a section of darker wood as an insert into the recess.  My mistake turned into a feature.   Below is the finished product.  The top two inches of the inside are sanded and finished.   Finish is gloss wipe on poly. 

 

Above is the engraved bottom with my mark and the date finished in Huron Beach, Michigan.

 

Above is the box with a lid I made for it using birds eye maple and the same darker wood.  Now both the top and the bottom have contrasting inserts.

Archie's Two-Wood Vessel Discussion

This is a followup to Steve Promo's post on teaching a person, in Florida, to turn a two wood box.   The student did a great job on the two wood box.   I recorded a talk on how I made this two wood vessel.

Watch the video for details.  (https://youtu.be/IW9b1uB43PY)

Steve Promo's teaches Mark Smithee a Turner in Florida to turn Boxes

 From Steve Promo:

They [boxes in photo below] are boxes turned by Mark Smithee of Englewood Florida after we had a session on turning boxes with layered colored woods added to the foot and lid landing areas.  Mark is a quick study and did a fine job on these.  He started wood turning about a year ago.  The woods are Texas Mesquite and Wenge.

Mark does not have a chuck yet, so everything was done with glue blocks and a single face plate.  Bravo

 

Note from Archie:  Well done Mark.  Since I did not know what Wenge wood was I looked it up.

From the Wood Database (https://www.wood-database.com/wenge/)

Wenge Wood

Color/Appearance: Heartwood is medium brown, sometimes with a reddish or yellowish hue, with nearly black streaks. Upon application of a wood finish (particularly an oil finish) the wood can become nearly black. However, unlike most other dark hardwoods, the heartwood of Wenge can lighten (rather than darken) when exposed to sunlight.

Grain/Texture: Grain is straight, with a very coarse texture. Low natural luster.

Rot Resistance: Very durable; good termite resistance.

Workability: Can be difficult to work with hand and machine tools. Blunts tool edges. Sands unevenly due to differences in density between light and dark areas. Very splintery—care must be used when handling unfinished wood with bare hands as splinters can be very large and have an increased risk of infection. Very large pores can be difficult to fill if a perfectly smooth/level finish is desired.

Odor: Wenge has a faint, slightly bitter scent when being worked.

 

Mount for Lathe Chuck Jaws

 I have three chucks and each has more than one set of jaws.   I had the jaws stored in a wooden box but decided that having them on a shelf would be better and keep the jaws together.    I bought the top chuck form Tom Cadwalder and it had one set of jaws.  None of the other jaws would fit the chuck.  I was looking thru the Grizzly catalog and spotted a chuck and jaws that looked like this one.  I contacted Grizzly and they measured the spacing of the screws and raised flut on the back and it matched the chuck.  I ordered the jaws and they work fine.  

In this picture you can see the three chucks hanging on PVC pipe inserted into a piece cedar.  Below are three face plates, bottom two have rubber for pressure holding work and the top one has sanding paper.  To the left is the shelve unit I made to hold the jaws for the chucks.  A thick cedar board, left over from my house construction in 2009, was used for the wall mount and left over cedar cedar siding was used for the shelves.  

 The close up view shows the dado joints I made using a radial arm saw and dado blades.  The radial arm saw allowed me to secure the wood and move the blade thru the wood.  The cedar siding boards were run thru a planner to remove the exterior finish and make sure they were the right thickness for the dado joints.  

To turned the 4-inch recess for the jaws to set in I used a set jaws with rubber coated pegs to hold the work in place off setting the work to one end so the recess, shown in pencil, can be cut.  With pins on all four sides secured the wood in place so the wood could be turned and the recess cut safely.  The dark rubber coated pins came with the jaws and the ones on the left I made using a dowel with a rubber hose over the outside for better grip and appropriate sized screws thru the center that screw into the jaw plate. 

Birds Eye Maple Candle Sticks

 Some years ago I started to make some candle sticks out of birds eye maple and then put the wood away.  I dug it out and finished the project.  First, I drew a sketch of what I wanted for the candle constructions.

Once I had the concept down I used my computer to refine the drawing.

In both the sketch and the drawing the sections are held in place by plugs which can be of almost any wood.  I choose oak I turned from a piece of scrap cut from a log.  The section thru the napkin ring is wide enough to ring slides on the wood snugly.  

In the picture above you can see I used a screw chuck to turn the bases.  These are the ones that I put aside for several years.   At the time I did not have any other chucks and had not gotten into gluing mounting blocks on the wood which would have prevented the holes in the bottom.  

After turning the base I bored a hole for the mounting plug.   You can see the plug material in the background.   On the right in back is the material I used to make the two sections and is made by gluing three curly maple boards together. 

Some assembly required at this point.   The napkin ring fits snug over the center plug section.  The tolerance for the holes on the first one was off a little so for a fit test I used blue masking tape.  I made two of these and put them together and finished on the lathe.   For the final assembly I mixed ground shavings with glue to ensure a tight fit for the holes that did not have a tight fit.  The first one I made the hole tolerance was off but the second one I drilled the hole and then turned the end to fit tight.

Here are the finished curly maple candle sticks ready for 3" diameter candles for the top.   I'll add felt to the bottom to hide the holes.  This is my third set of candle sticks I have turned.   One set holds regular candles and this set will make two that are for 3" candles.  We use 3" electric candles.

Steve Promo Contrasting Round Curly Hard Maple wood Box

 Steve recently made a round box using Hard Curly Maple and Purple Heart wood.  Steve says: Directions for lidded box in curly hard maple with inlayed Purple Heart rim, foot, and finial will work for glue block or chuck method.  Here are the directions:

Note:  Steve use a glue block and a jam chuck.  The purple heart is glued to the base before the base is hollowed out and the inside is turned to create a jam chuck to hollow out the bottom of the top.  The bottom layer of purple heart is added using a jam chuck to hole the base for both gluing the purple heart on the base and to hollow the bottom out.  

Here is the final creation of Steve's:

Notice how the purple heart blends seamlessly into the base.  Any two contrasting woods would work. 

Thanks Steve for sharing the creation and giving us the design details.  Archie

Steve Promo turning wood dog food scoop

 Steve, sent the following picture that illustrates the stages of turning a large scoop for dog food.  Red pine and western cedar.

Here are pictures of the different stages of the scoop turning.  Back in 2016 Steve did a demo for making scoops.  Also if you search Youtube.com you can find many demos on making scoops as well.    You can also make a bowl and attach a handle to it to make a scoop. 

Thanks for sharing Steve. - ajp2

Update from Steve.  He made two more scoops and put the dog's names on the scoops.

Two more dog food scoops by Steve Promo.  With names!

Archie:  Inspired by Steve I tried my had at making a scoop.  This one holds 1/3 cup of rice.  Not sure what kind of wood it is made from but the finish is food safe. Wife immediately put in her kitchen drawer. -ajp2