I am a pretty inexperienced turner working with a little baby size lathe but I have worked on some small projects before. 9 months ago my mother (a lifelong non-smoker) was diagnosed with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer. Her disease was a very aggressive one and she passed away April 10th from pneumonia. As per her wishes, she was cremated but I was very unhappy with the urns that were commercially available. My goal was to create a form that would be attractive for the memorials (there will be 2 in different states), but after scattering her ashes would be a good shape to hold dried or silk flowers to remember her. I knew that I didn't have any 6"x6" cherry so I laminated up 3 pieces of 8/4 cherry to form a rough blank of 6"x6"x14"
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This was a bit interesting for me to round out and was about the largest piece of wood I could fit on my lathe. I had to use the longest tool rest I had since the banjo wouldn't fit under the blank until it was rounded so I started with the banjo next to the headstock and worked my way down. The light in the picture is a modified Ikea lamp that I mounted to a Harbor Freight magnet. They work incredibly well.
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And here is the urn turned from it
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With the cap on it, turned from a separate piece of wood. The piece on the left is from the same board I laminated up where I was trying to decide on finish. The 2 there are Arm-R-Seal and Seal-A-Cell with no topcoat yet.
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I wasn't able to hollow the inside of the urn on my lathe, the weight of this piece was just too much for me to hold it stable with the equipment I have so I hollowed the center using a forstner bit and drill press. I'd love to hear any comments from more experienced turners and if anyone has any suggestions for finishes on the cherry.
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