Ornamental Turning

Added 16 November 2014

This is another 10” Honduran Mahogany platter. The very simple design is from the outer part of Holtzapffel Fig. 230. There is a base pattern of 34 touching circles with three further groups each with increasing diameters, such that they fully form sharp edges (in this case by adding 2.5 mm to each group of 34), and placed so that the groups touch at their innermost point. The four groups of 34 circles were cut one millimetre deep using the same 146 degree included angle ‘v’ tool as used below.

Added 17 October 2014

This 10” platter has a double barleycorn pattern cut in the rim and I think the timber is Honduran mahogany.

The base barleycorn consists of 40 touching circles cut 1mm deep using a ‘v’ tool of included angle 146 degrees. These are then further divided to give a resulting pattern of 160 intersecting circles. The tool is then reset by trial and error to fractionally short of twice the diameter of the small circles, but on the same pitch circle, so that a cut will exactly include two of the smaller circles, and then a further 159 circles are made at the same depth. The result is a set of 160 small and 160 large circles giving this quite pleasing pattern.

I used a dividing plate on my rotary table which virtually eliminates the otherwise very real possibility of setting errors with such a tediously repetitive job.

Added 12 January 2014

Four pictures of a box of seven pens. The box is made from Partridgewood and the slide-in support tubes are of Maple and Purpleheart, with a Purpleheart shoulder ring. The pattern on the lid is a Holzapffel design, (plate 9, number 216 from his book on ornamental turning). At the bottom of the box is a leather topped removable plug to give the pens a soft landing. From the left the pens are made from Yew, Ebony, Olive, Mopane, Lignum Vitae, Padauk and Pao Rosa.

Added 30 November 2013

2.9" Partridgewood and Ebony pincushion. The loose fitting pincushion is filled with sharp sand to keep the pins sharp and the cloth covering held in place with a tight fitting Macassar Ebony ring. There is a small space beneath the pincushion for small cotton reels and the odd button or safety pin. The design on the lid is Holzapffel's number 218.

Added 1 August 2013

3 Barleycorns cut on a 2.75" Lignum Vitae box. Description of the methods and tools used is here.

A 7.5" Maple bowl with a barleycorn pattern rim.

This picture and the adjacent one are two views of the same Sonokelling box (2").

This picture and the adjacent one are of the same Lignum Vitae box (2.75").