Turning hollow glue ups

[David Utterback]

I have little experience with bowl or vessel turning but have a lot of the necessary tools and a good lathe. However, I need to make an urn for my brother in law who passed away earlier this week. Is it safe to turn long-grain edge-glued polygons. I have some well-seasoned cherry about 7/8" thick that I was thinking could be glued into an octagon and then turned. The finished vessel would be about 6" od and 9" high.

Would it be best to cut fill pieces for the openings at either end or should larger flat pieces (with grain perpendicular to vessel grain) be glued across the outside dimensions and then attached to a face plate? I am not at all sure what to do.

I am reluctant to glue a solid block for turning since the grain would not be consistent around the outside.

Thanks
David

[Clint Bach]

How about a small panel in grooves sort of like drawer bottoms are done.

[Brian Kent]

I would encourage drawing this on paper, at the widest point (6" diameter circle made of 8 pieces each 7/8" thick) to make sure you can draw a circle that has adequate thickness at every point. Long grain works fine. With very dry wood on small vessels I have glued end pieces across the end and have turned a groove for a round piece. Both worked. Floating a piece in a groove is safer as long as the ashes are inside of a lining bag.

[David Utterback]

Thanks for the comments. I just cut the bevels and set up a dry assembly. There looks like plenty of stock thickness. I may further tweak the angle since the joints are not completely closed on the inside. The dry fit is still over 6 3/4" in diameter so I have some room to play with it yet.

Any suggestions on fixtures to hold it while I turn? I am thinking about an octagon piece fit to the internal dimensions that is glued to a similar piece which overlays the end grain. Maybe I am overthinking this.

Thanks again!

[Dennis Ford]

I have turned this style vessel before with a glue block glued to the end grain of the staves. The glue joint only has to hold during the turning so no worries about wood movement breaking the joint. There are considerable stresses involved during turning that you should be worried.

[Ted Calver]

Just turn two circles out of stock thick enough to create a 1/2" step that fits the inside diameter of the hexagon. Press fit one on each end of the cylinder and turn between centers.

[Peter Fabricius]

Hi David,
southbaywoodworkers.com was the first listing when I Googled "Staved Vessel Construction". It is a great tutorial of staved Construction and turning including jigs and it is by the Master, Malcolm Tibbits..
you cannot get a better teacher.
good luck
Peter F.

[Dane Riley]

I'm not finding this. Can you post the link?

[David Utterback]

Thanks for the great information. I have learned so much from this site and the gentlemen and gentlewomen who post here. Now I know what a staved vessel is.

Dane, here is a partial address for the site that Peter noted - www.southbaywoodworkers.org/.../3/1/.../sbww_stave_presentation-reduced_size.ppt. It is a ppt file so Microsoft software is needed to view it.

[John Keeton]

Depending on how large a build your brother in law was, and the finished inside dimensions of the urn, you may have a capacity issue.

[David Utterback]

John, great point. The dimensions were provided by the funeral home as <7" od and <11" high. After looking at some of the resources given above, I think that will not be a problem. Thanks!