Below are some pictures of a box elder hollow form I just finished last night. After being inspired by Wally Dickerman's "Small Treasures", I decided it was high time I try to turn a hollow form.
One of the reasons that I haven't turned many before this was my dissatisfaction with the performance of my Sorby swan necked hollower. I just couldn't get the control I desired. When the Lee Valley catalog arrived in the mail and I noticed that they were selling the Don Pencil Scorpion/Stinger Hollowing tool, I decided it was time to bite the bullet. I'd gotten a lot of very good feedback from current users of this tool and had read the reviews. It seemed like the perfect tool for me.
When I received the hollowing tool, I was very impressed with the fit and finish. It went together with no problem. I spent most of the first night sharpening all of the cutters to the recommended 10 deg pitch. When it came time to finally use the tool, all I needed was a suitable blank. I choose to use a box elder blank whose grain was ideally suited for spindle turning.
After shaping the profile of the vase with a spindle gouge, I reached for the Scorpion/Stinger. Due to the smaller size of the blank, I used the Stinger assembly. After struggling with my old Sorby, I was amazed at how easy hollowing could be with the Stinger. I was removing wood about twice as fast as I was before. It wasn't long before I had reached a point where I had to stop, wrap the vase and allow it to air dry for a time.
The roughed out hollow form was allowed to dry for a time, and then I final turned it. I turned away the distortion and normalized the profile. When it came time to hollow out the inside, I reached for my shop built bowl steady. This really helped to make hollowing to a thin wall thickness a much easier task.
The vase was then dry sanded to 2000 grit, reverse chucked (too many holes for vacuum chucking), and the base turned.
Specs:
Outer dia.: 4 1/4"
Height: 5 1/2"
Mouth dia.: 2 1/2"
Wall thickness: 3/16"
Base dia.: 2 1/2"
Sanding Method: Dry sanded to 2000 grit.
Finish: Watco's Danish Oil
Final: Buffed with Beall System
I'd appreciate any comments you'd like to make on the shape and proportions.
Thanks for viewing.
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