Shopsmith Forums

I had been working off and on on this segmented vessel for a few weeks. With the holiday season and other events happening, I was constantly having to put off finishing the project.
This particular jug consists of 161 pieces of wood, counting four pieces of black veneer. It was made out of Red Oak and Purple Heart wood.
There are a total of 10 rings, with 12 segments in each ring, cut at 15 degrees. The diamond feature ring consists of 12 segments, with each segment containing 5 individual pieces of wood, glued together to form the diamond segment.
I managed to finish it on Dec 24th, and consider it a present to myself!
[ATTACH]7130[/ATTACH]

Happy New Year Everybody!:)
John
FlashbacPT

Very nice work. I'd keep it too!

Truly a work of art, congratulations. Jim

Beautiful. Truly work to be proud of and to be displayed.
Happy New Year

Just like anything else, I try to have a production line going. Once the sizes for each segment ring are determined, I try to cut everything to size, and then do a production angle cut of the segments, before gluing them together.
The actual gluing goes a lot faster than you think.....you start gluing pairs together, then glue half rings, and then place them into a hose clamp, separating the two halfs by dowels, and allowing them to dry over night.
It is then a matter of sanding to fit the half rings together, and then gluing them together, using the hose clamps over night.
Once all rings are formed, you then have to sand them flat so that they stack together, and then you can glue the rings together in two sections, glued to two separate faceplates, forming a "bottom half bowl" and a "Top half bowl".
Once dry, you place both faceplates on the ShopSmith, pushing the two halfs together, and locking them into place. You can then start turning the outside shape of your jug.
Once the outside shape is completed, you then separate the two halfs, and turn the inside of the top and bottom. Once completed, you then remount both halfs, push them together, and do a final touch up turning. After that, you pull them apart, apply glue to the edges, and push the halfs back together again, and allow to dry overnight.
It is then a matter of very carefully finishing and parting off the top, and then turning the bottom and parting off the base.
Because the feature rings are more detailed, it is wise to start work on that ring first, since it can be very complex, depending on your design.
In short, Lots and lots of glue, and sanding involved, with a little turning tossed in!;)

John
FlashbacPT

....wow....

Very nice piece of artwork!

I'll ditto what has been said earlier. - WOW!!!!:D

Beautiful piece, John! Your explanation of the process tells me; the possibilities of segmented turning are endless, & the process is a real commitment!

Thanks for showing us!

a1gutterman wrote:....wow....

You pulled that right out of my mouth!:)

Way to Go!

That is a real piece of work!