I am not sure if there is a more appropriate forum for this kind of post, if so, please feel free to move the thread. I have been woodturning since 2020, although for a couple of years here, until the very end of 2023 and then only the last 5-6 months of this year, did I really get back into it. So I guess I'd say, I'm a couple of years into my "career" as a woodturner, and hopefully fully fledged woodworker by next year.
I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, and do things I've never done before, aim for a level of detail and quality I haven't achieved yet. I've never been all that great at finials, and I've never tried to hollow out a small object before. So I tried to create two finial globe ornaments. I'm curious what you experienced woodworkers think. A mistake I made, that was kind of a happy mistake as my solution to fixing it actually made these look a bit better than I originally expected by forcing me to introduce a third wood, was the size of the holes for the finials. I turned the finials out of pen blanks, 3/4" max (and not even that in the end), but the holes turned out to be closer to an inch or more. So I turned little caps out of very small pieces of wood (forced me to think outside the box as far as ways to hold them on the lathe!), and used those to cover the enlarged holes after hollowing.
Anyway, here are my first two. I'm reasonably satisfied. I had a harder time with the finish...I finished, then glued, and glue squeezed out of the cap/finial interfaces more than I expected, which required refinishing without being able to put them back on the lathe. The finish isn't as nice as I had hoped (its shellac with an Acks abrasive paste/polishing wax finish). I also learned that trying to drill holes through the top finials wasn't the greatest idea (also turned some strait finial ornaments that I also tried to drill holes into, including with tape and a few other measures to try and avoid chipout, all with chipout issues.)
I DO feel my finial turning improved dramatically... Took a decent amount of time, but I'm pretty satisfied with the detail I was able to get!
Globe: African Mahogany
Caps: Redheart
Finials: Hard Maple
Globe: Spalted Tamarind
Caps: Macassar Ebony
Finials: Redheart
Thanks for looking!
I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, and do things I've never done before, aim for a level of detail and quality I haven't achieved yet. I've never been all that great at finials, and I've never tried to hollow out a small object before. So I tried to create two finial globe ornaments. I'm curious what you experienced woodworkers think. A mistake I made, that was kind of a happy mistake as my solution to fixing it actually made these look a bit better than I originally expected by forcing me to introduce a third wood, was the size of the holes for the finials. I turned the finials out of pen blanks, 3/4" max (and not even that in the end), but the holes turned out to be closer to an inch or more. So I turned little caps out of very small pieces of wood (forced me to think outside the box as far as ways to hold them on the lathe!), and used those to cover the enlarged holes after hollowing.
Anyway, here are my first two. I'm reasonably satisfied. I had a harder time with the finish...I finished, then glued, and glue squeezed out of the cap/finial interfaces more than I expected, which required refinishing without being able to put them back on the lathe. The finish isn't as nice as I had hoped (its shellac with an Acks abrasive paste/polishing wax finish). I also learned that trying to drill holes through the top finials wasn't the greatest idea (also turned some strait finial ornaments that I also tried to drill holes into, including with tape and a few other measures to try and avoid chipout, all with chipout issues.)
I DO feel my finial turning improved dramatically... Took a decent amount of time, but I'm pretty satisfied with the detail I was able to get!
Globe: African Mahogany
Caps: Redheart
Finials: Hard Maple
Globe: Spalted Tamarind
Caps: Macassar Ebony
Finials: Redheart
Thanks for looking!
