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Thread: How do you ultimately treat your recess?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    Prosper, Texas
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    1,474

    How do you ultimately treat your recess?

    I only recently began creating a recess rather than a tenon in some of my turnings and I am appreciating some of the benefits. I am wondering what most folks do with the recess when the piece has been completed. Do you reverse mount and alter the recess in some way or do you just leave the dovetailed recess alone?
    Regards,

    Glen

    Woodworking: It's a joinery.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Escondido, CA
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    6,224
    I leave the recess and finish it with same finish.
    Veni Vidi Vendi Vente! I came, I saw, I bought a large coffee!

  3. #3
    Fine finish cuts on the recess before I reverse it, lemon juice to remove the iron stains, sand, sign, and finish. On 'art' pieces, I will some times turn the recess off, but most of the time it isn't worth the extra effort or time. Maybe an added point is that the signature is protected from rubbing off.

    robo hippy

  4. #4
    I make a disc with my name & wood info and use it to plug the hole. Makes it look finished and professional.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  5. #5
    I use a recess only when I cuck up a massive blank for the purpose of coring a nested set, but after drying and finish turning...there is no trace of the recess as I finish the bowls by turning off and finishing the bottom with a flat...slightly concave surface. Of course you have to have enough meat left on the bottom to do this, but it hasn't seemed to be a problem so far.
    -------
    No, it's not thin enough yet.
    -------

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Harrisburg, NC
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    814
    I finish off the recess either the way Scott described or by cutting away most and leaving a "ridge" about 1/16 as a base.
    Either way the dovetail shape is removed. I do not turn massive items but still like the recess mount. By careful sizing of the recess you may use a recess for rough out and revert to a smaller chuck with tenon for finishing (or keep a recess for finishing).
    "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Atikokan, Rainy River district, Ontario
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    3,540
    I use a recess almost always, except on very large items I use a faceplate, the recess gets returned at the end, I find a unfinished recess or tenon makes for a unfinished item.

    I’ll ad a few pictures of turnings to show my usual bottom, unless I shape the bottom to the bowls contour, and there is then nothing left of the recess/tenon.

    Rock Elm bottom .jpgBlack Cherry boyyom.jpgWhite Elm bottom.jpgAcer Negundo bottom.jpgCatalpa bottom.jpgManitoba Maple hottom.jpgMaple bottom.jpgRock Elm bottom.jpg
    Have fun and take care

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Fredericksburg, TX
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    2,576
    Leo said it. I heard somewhere that the final piece should not show how it was mounted for turning. Incorporate the recess into a design, feet, or just remove it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Atikokan, Rainy River district, Ontario
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thomas Canfield View Post
    Leo said it. I heard somewhere that the final piece should not show how it was mounted for turning. Incorporate the recess into a design, feet, or just remove it.
    Agreed with that Tom, the other thing one will see when observing lookers/customers that when they do pick up a bowl/turning even when the price is to see without turning the piece over, they still will turn it over and look at the underside/bottom of the turning, and a nicely finished foot/base will certainly give a more professionally impression than a rough or not finished recess or tenon.

    The impression of a higher quality piece will get you a higher price en more sales.

    This piece will impress people more than this one.
    Siberian Elm bottom.jpg Siberian Elm recess.jpg
    Have fun and take care

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Mills View Post
    I finish off the recess either the way Scott described or by cutting away most and leaving a "ridge" about 1/16 as a base.
    Either way the dovetail shape is removed. I do not turn massive items but still like the recess mount. By careful sizing of the recess you may use a recess for rough out and revert to a smaller chuck with tenon for finishing (or keep a recess for finishing).
    Pretty much this for me as well. How much of a "ridge" I leave (if any) is a design consideration that varies by piece, but the dovetail is always removed.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Fredericksburg, TX
    Posts
    2,576
    I was in a gallery today in Hilo, Hi and was surprised to see that the signed wood bowls and hollow forms were of such poor quality. The sanding and finish was rough, pieces were extremely thick, and bottoms had both a recess and evidence of 4 screw holes that had been filled with a light color filler. Pieces were in the $100 range, but no where in the same class as the other art work. I guess that just says you never can tell, but I would not expect that wood to sell. We all need to try to keep our quality up and improving - especially if we put our name on it.

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