aSPIREing to new Hights

It looks like you are having a lot of fun.Nice job.

-- Bill in Mich

Great job. That is some delicate work.

That thing is as thin as a dart.
Be careful, you’ll put your eye out! LOL
And don’t accidentally set one on a chair and forget it’s there!!!

-- Eric

scrappy,
Great job! You seem to have been bitten big by this Woodturning Bug! Must have been part Vampire, as the blood infusion seems to have been a success. Your turnings are progressing at an expeditious pace and you’re having great success at the same time. Keep on keeping on! Congratulations again!

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

wow !
you sure know how to step out and have fun .

i’m enjoying the ride ,
you are a real inspiration !

great !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

WOW I bet that was hard on the nerves to turn that fine of a piece! Good job!

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Nice one!
Looks like your really having some good times in your shop…....................
Variety is the spice of life…..........

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

nice!

-- Greg, Southern Oregon, www.oregonburls.com

looks great nice details

Wow Scrappy
you’ve got it down amazing that you can get that spire that skinny.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

POKEY! I’m curious to see what your “spire chuck” is all about.

Great job.

-- Lisa Chan, custom cafts and yarn accessories, http://www.grippingyarn.com

Great exercise in careful turning.
Now tell us; how many did you break before being successful? (-;

-- Les B, Oregon

HI Scrappy very well done. Only comment I have is I would like to see a smaller bottom reduce by about 15-20mm. Post discription of your spire chuck Kind Regards Roger SA

-- Always give it your best shot

I’d like to see the chuck too. Great job. I lose patience when trying something that small.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. It was a little hairy getting this spire that thin, but also a lot of fun.

As for the “Spire Chuck” It is nothing more then a piece of red oak with a hole in it. haha
Mounted a piece of red oak on the turning plate. Cut a hole 3/4 deep and 1/2 diam. Rounded some just to save the knuckles, and cleared some of the face also. Drilled a hole all the way through for a wood screw. Glued some sandpaper to the front to help avoid slippage when turning.

I first mount my spire blank between centers and round. Cut one end down to be dead on 1/2 inch diam.(tight fit in hole) Remove form centers and mount in “Spire Chuck”with screw from back side. Mount back onto turning plate. Now you can start at the free end (farthest from chuck) and turn a small amount at a time. When you get to the diam. you want, sand and buff. Turn another section and repeat. This way you have the entire size of the blank(3/4 round) supporting the area you are working on. It did not flex as long as I did not do too much at once.

Give this a try. It was a way to use a chuck mount without purchaseing a chuck. I don’t have the price of a chuck in my budget at this time, so I improvise. Let me know how it works for you. Have also used this for other small turnings that you don’t or can’t use the tailstock on.

Thanks again for all the great comments. Hope to see more Small turnings soon.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Nice turning Scrappy. Very nice box and finial. I like what you did with the finial, nice composition. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

You might consider boiled linseed oil, teak oil, or maybe a thin cut of shellac. I have found the first two of these to be great finishes as they both harden inside the wood and can be paste waxed after they dry. Shellac would be my last choice, it does soak in and dry but it scratches easily. Paste wax over shellac hides all but really deep scratches or nics. Just my 2 cents worth. Great work, hope I get half that good someday.

-- JoeR Nothing that I could make will ever be perfect but I'll use it anyway.