It turns out that the walnut loop pieces that
I made are some of my more popular items. Someone contacted me recently about doing
another walnut loop commission. I do not normally take commissions, but this
one was too good to pass up. I bought a couple of large walnut slabs, in
part to use for this piece. I also wanted some walnut to use in future
projects. Walnut is so nice. I started out buy cutting two twenty-inch
disks from this slab. If it was any thicker, I would not be able
to cut it with the jigsaw. Twenty inches is the swing of my lathe. It just barely fit. I started contouring the outside of the disk
in order get the first ring.
I had a cardboard template that I compare
it with to ensure I get a circular profile. When I parted it, I turned it as thin as I
dared. Then I stopped the lathe and pulled it off
the rest of the way. Unfortunately, that leaves a little ridge
on the inside that I will take care of later. I was able to get four concentric rings out
of this one slab. Then I just repeated the process for the other
rings. I could just use the cole jaws for the four
smaller rings, but I needed a solution for the larger pieces. I put it between 2x4s. I have done this before, where I get it as
straight as I possibly can. Then, glue it on. Then, I turn a tenon. I turn it around and mount it in the chuck. I gently turn the inside and sand it smooth. Because it is hot glue, I can easily pull
it off. Everything was going great until the very
last ring. I was not recording, but it flew off the lathe,
unfortunately. I decided I am not going to do anything that
large again.
The larger it is, the more likely it will
come off. I marked the centre of the rings. I cut them in two pieces. Then, sanded the faces flat. I started to glue them together. I am just using wood glue. At this point I decided that if I used all
these rings in one sculpture, it would be too much, I think. Especially if I want to ship it to the client,
it would be very awkward. The larger it is, the more likely it would
not survive shipping.
I decided to not use the largest rings and
set them aside for now. I will probably use them in a future piece. I just hold them together for about two minutes. That is long enough for the glue to get tacky
and it stays together. After it was mostly glued up, I smoothed out
the glue joints with a rotary tool at first, then hand-sanded it. I do not know why I did not try this before. I put some blue tape on. That seemed to help hold it together. The glue joints were surprisingly strong. Then, I glued the final piece on. I press it down for a minute, then let it
dry. The client did not want a base, so I just
sanded it flat on the bottom. Once I put the finish on, it made it really
pop.
So nice. I am really happy with how this turned out
and so is the client. Thanks for watching. See you next time in Cammie's Garage..