December 2016 Contest - Homemade Gifts!

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bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Thanks,
Light colored woods do show up best on Christmas trees, but it isn't ash. My favorite for ornaments is basswood, but these are from conifer trees. I do know the lightest one is white pine, my second favorite ornament wood, but I'm not sure what softwood tree the other two came from.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Re: tips on turning those?

Wow - great work Bob.
Turning those ornaments with holes (i.e. 90% air) would take more skill and control than I think I have. Any tips on turning these?

Henry
 

Matt Furjanic

New User
Matt
Re: tips on turning those?

A simple keepsake box.
Primary wood is Sapele. The curly sapele on the top is sapele veneer.
The compass rose is ebony and holly. The inlay banding is sapele, ebony and maple.
All inlays made in my workshop.
French polish (hand-rubbed shellac and olive oil) finish.

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danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
Re: tips on turning those?

Well done Matt. Do you have any photos of the build in the Gallery? Maybe later?

Dan
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
Five sets of "party trays" - the hole is to hang a wineglass in, so you can actually eat food of the tray as you're holding it.
Some project musings posted in the General Woodworking forum.

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LocoWoodWork

Steve
Corporate Member
A sewing box for my extremely better half. A few scraps from the RO I cut last spring and a few scraps of walnut headed to my neighbors burn-pit. Still working on second lid and matching brass screws. Tools used: hand plane, chisels, dovetail saw ( I will definitely be considering a dovetail jig in the near future). Handle made with BS and belt sander. One coat of LO so far. Most of the RO is QSRO with the exception of a few side pieces on the bottom end boxes. Learned a a lot... my dovetails are better but still need practice. Good side is that there is no doubt they are hand cut.
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CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
Here is one of 5 cheese & cracker trays from Woodsmith plans. Cherry and end-grain Hard Maple.

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CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
And the other project - 2 of 3 trinket boxes, also from Woodsmith plans.

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On the left: Spalted Ash (I think), Cherry, feathered crotch Pecan and Walnut

On the right: Spalted Ash, Curly Cherry and Walnut
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Here's my entry for December. These are both turned from one piece of Cherry Burl for the outer case and another piece of Cherry for the drawer. They are flocked with Red Suede-Tex. They are monogrammed for my two daughters as these are Christmas gifts for them.

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CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
Well done Michael! I'm trying to wrap my head around how you did the outer shell! In halves maybe?
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Chris, first, between centers, turn a tenon on each end and make the piece round. Then turn as much of the OD of the donut as possible without cutting off the tenons. Then using the narrowest parting tool, cut a groove from the center line of the donut about 1-1/2" deep. Remove from the lathe and finish splitting the two halves on the bandsaw. Return each piece to the lathe chuck and finish hollowing the inside of the donut as well as the center all the way through. Glue the two pieces back together on the lathe using the chuck and live center to hold them in place. Be careful to line the grain back up and be VERY careful where and how much glue you use. If you get squeeze out on the inside of the hole, you cannot clean it up!!!!

After the glue has dried, spin up the piece and take a light clean up cut at the joint. Remove the tenon and finish hollowing the first side. Sand and apply Shellawax friction polish.

Remove piece and chuck and install donut chuck. Chuck up the piece using the donut chuck and padding to protect piece. With a dial indicator on the hollowed center hole, center up the piece and tighten down bolts on donut chuck. Turn the second tenon off, sand and finish the last 1/4 of the piece. Cut in half on the bandsaw. Now you have two pieces that look like Elbow Macaroni!

The drawer is done in the same way, but it doesn't get parted in half, just hollowed to the wall thickness you want the drawer to be. WORD of caution in this step: You MUST make templates of the INSIDE of the case, then make another set of templates that match the INSIDE template. You NEED the second templates to get the drawer to the right size so it will fit inside the donut hole. You CANNOT check the fit because you have to cut the drawer piece in half to do this!

Finally make all the ends, glue them on, flush trim router bit, sand and finish!

Let me know how YOURS turns out!
Michael

Well done Michael! I'm trying to wrap my head around how you did the outer shell! In halves maybe?
 

Acelectric

Wayne
Corporate Member
Ok finally have all the gifts completed Here are a couple of my favorites.

First the table I made for my wife. The base is from a singer treadle sewing machine that I found at an antique shop. I cleaned it up and removed the rust. Then primed and painted it with a semi-gloss black. The top is wormy maple with a shellac finish.

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Next is a pair of display shelves I made for my brother. He collects 1/64th scale trucks and needs somewhere to show them off. They are made of sapele with a coat of shellac and a couple coats of polly.


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A close-up of the custom molding I made for them.


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I hope you enjoy the pictures. Everyone have a very Merry Christmas.
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Those are cool Michael....did you have a plan?

Dirk, I saw a video of some guy that made what I believe is very similar. That was over a month ago, and I went looking for it to make a plan but couldn't find it again. So I just winged it! Seemed rather simple to me, but with very important steps. Didn't track my time overall, but if I had to guess, around 10 to 15 hours...I was being very careful with that Cherry Burl!
 

JGregJ

New User
Greg
Wow, not sure how I'd even start making something like this, it's round, but doesn't look like a lathe project. Kinda like a band saw box, but not in a semi-circle pattern. Tis very unique and beautiful!

I see that you posted instructions on how it was done, thanks for doing that as it was quite the puzzle.. Amazing the things that can be made of wood!
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
Nothing fancy this year .......just trying to practice what I've learned about turningchristmas gifts.jpg
 
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