Pot procedure

End grain spalted beech pot 6" x 5"

Yesterday my friend and neighbour Martin the farmer and I harvested some large beech rounds from a tree that fell a couple of years ago. Fortunately is wasn't in contact with the ground and still had a bit of root attached so its still fairly green. I figured it would it would be nice to give him the first piece cut from the timber. At the same time I wanted to outline the best steps that I've come up with to produce a shape I'm keen on.

Four beech rounds approx. 23" diameter

Blank mounted on screw chuck for initial truing and forming rough shape and spigot prior to reverse chucking

Roughing out bottom and cutting spigot for gripper jaws with half inch bowl gouge.

Cutting against the grain with a three eights finishing bowl gouge to meet the top bead leaves a little tearout

Shear cutting downhill with a three eights spindle gouge leaves a nice finish.

Drilling to depth with magnet for gauge prior hollowing done with a Trucut flexi-hollower. Material that had been supported by the tailstock has been removed.

The pot has been hollowed to a quarter inch wall (slightly thicker at the base) and mounted on a mandrel.

Trimming base with spindle detail gouge.

Voila!

Hoorah!

Peter Hawkes asked me to provide some turnings to sell in his gift shop Lacey's Yard in Chesham. It's a thrill to be entering the retail market and I hope expand to a couple more shops! Don't want to get too ambitious as it all might feel a bit like work.

Lacey's Yard

Pricing

Two Pieces from One Log Section

Having been frustrated lately at trying to include the pith in bowls and pots I took a large chunk of beech and turned a cross grain piece and an end grain piece from two half sections. Grinding a long sweep on just the left side of the flute on a deep-fluted bowl gouge allowed the upper two thirds to be cut in one sweep. The bottom third was cut with a Munro hollower and scraper.

Pot, Spalted Beech,  9.5"x 5.5"

The end grain vase is from a quarter sawn block and hollowed with Munro and Kelton tools freehand with lots of caliper checks. 

Vase, Spalted Beech, 6" x 9.5"

I quite enjoy working with spalted beech if it hasn't gone too far. Easy to cut, tends not to clog hollowers and finishes well. There's also a helluva lot of it around the Chilterns. Hope to post an entry soon on hollowing techniques and tools.