Just finished a new project ... lathe-turned and hand-cut wooden flowers. The flowers are mounted on 1/8 inch dia brass rods and set in a Catalpa vase. The wooden flowers are three wood species (L to R): Flaming Box Elder, Padauk, and Yellowheart. They are finished with three coats of True Oil.
Tom
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Photo 1 is the final work. The 'making' process is illustrated in Photos 2 to 5 using a Yellowheart turning block. Photo 6 shows four different wood species flowers ready for finish application.
The process starts with a 2x2x4.5 inch turning block mounted between centers to turn a tenon for chuck mounting.
Photo 2: With the tenon mounted in a 4-jaw chuck, the outside flower shape is turned and then a center hole is drilled leaving about 3/8 inch material at the bottom of the flower. The flowers are now 2-3/4 inches long x 1-3/4 inches dia at their base.
Photo 3: The inside is hollowed out using hand-held hollowing cutters to maintain a wall thickness of 1/16 inch to 3/32 inch to match the outside profile of the wooden flowers.
Photo 4: The chuck is remounted on my workbench and the petal outline is penciled in.
Photo 5: The petals are cut to shape using a small flexible handsaw then used 150 grit strips of sandpaper to smooth the petal profiles.
Then chuck was remounted on the lathe and the wooden flower was carefully turned off of the turning block stub.