Incorporating A Little Fretwork Into Turning

[William Young]

Yesterday after making that honduras mahogany box for my sister in laws birthday gift I decided to go out to my shop and try my first potpourri bowl. I didn't have any plan to go by on how to do it so I just winged it. Learned a few things and hopefully they will get better after making more of them . I can see this item as being a good craft sale seller as well as for gifts..
It was one of those things that I started and couldn't leave alone until it was almost done. Started after supper and screwed up one lid because it didnt fit the base right and had to make another. Finished it off this morning before going to town and took pictures when I got back.
It is 6" in diameter. The bottom is cherry , the lid is silver birch, and the finial is honduras mahogany. It is projects like this that make that expensive little stash of wood I got a couple days ago suddenly appear to be quite a bargain after all.
W.Y.

 

[oldgriz]

Beautifully done Bill... been meaning to do some of that myself...
TO those of you who do not know... Bill is probably one of the finest scrollers around.. his clocks are works of art.... it was only a matter of time before he combined both talents...

 

[William Young]

Tom;
Thanks for the kind words.
It is also a well known fact that you do excellent scolling and fretwork . Not only that but you make awsome patterns with a lot of detailed fretwork in them . Most anyone can cut out a patten but it takes a skill of an entirely different nature to be able to both make the pattern and cut it out as well.

BTW. The pattern that I used for the lid of the potpouri box was just the centre portion of a christmas tree ornament pattern that I enlarged on my photocopier.
W.Y.

 

[dkulze]

Beautiful, Bill.

I'm envious of your scroll saw skill. For a beginning turner, you're doing some pretty impressive work so keep it going and make a nice natural edge bowl out of that maple burl then do some fretwork on the sides to match the grain.

Dietrich

 

[William Young]

Dietrich;
The travel from the scrollsaw table to to the top of the arm at its highest stroke is only a little over 2" so that eliminates doing fretwork in the side of a hollow form but it is easy to do on a flat lid like I did on that potpourri box.

With that said, there is another way around it. A freind of mine in USA showed me his setup when I visited him . He is a master turner and also has an industrial quality scrollsaw like mine. He is planning on doing a magazine article showing how to do fine fretwork on the wall of a hollow form with about a 6" opening.
Whenever I get around to it I am planning to do one like that where the hollow form with a fretwork pattern cut into it will be on top of a turned pedestal and base and will incorporate a mini light fixture and bulb inside it to be used as an accent lamp and at the same time show off the fretwork with the light behind it.. The top hollow form part will be totally open at the top to dissipate heat on a straight walled 'shade' but perhaps tapered one way or the other . At least for the first one. Then it could be done on rounded or various shaped ones.
I dont know if anyone else has ever done this or not and if so I would like to see pictures of them.

About the only thing holding me back is finding a suitable chunk of wood to use as the top part. I would like it to be a solid piece but would have to be of a stable grain nature. I may however laminate some wood to the right size as a practice piece for the first one.
So many plans of things to do but with my scrollsawing and turning and a very active music life playing guitar and singing at several local functions every week , it sometimes takes more time than I would like to get around to doing some things.
Who said retirement was goingto be dull 😀 Wish I still had time to go fishing. .. .. .. ..
W.Y.

 

[dkulze]

With a sufficiently large opening, could you have the top arm of the saw inside the hollow form while cutting? If so, could you use a riser block on the saw table to cut smaller diameter openings?

One style that has been used by a number of folks with varying degrees of success/creativity, is cutting shaped holes in pieces and inlaying other pieces of wood. This can be done in patterns or to add a unique feature to a particular spot. Seems scroll saw work might allow the precision cutting and fretting of insets in such a situation.

Picture a vase with a detailed window scene inset in the side.

Dietrich