[Mitch Cholewinski]

I turned and shellacked this lamp and finished making it yesterday. Posted it to my gallery if anyone cares to take a look. Comments welcomed. Mitch

 

[littlebuddha]

Hi Mitch, would be nice to see larger pic to see more detail but from what i can see looks as though its a nice piece, looked over your gallery as well, some nice bits, you seem to like the shallac and varnishes, have you tried other types of finish on your turnings, ie friction polishes and some of the waxes, might just be my personal choice but im not into to glossy a wood, can detract from the beauty of the wood. And find that to much can naff a piece up. most like just a personal view, other to that keep um coming. Oh yes your work is crap, have to say that just remembered see your lathe, green eyed monster showing, my father in law bought one, i think its a great lathe, cannot afford to buy one just yet, but will. so great lathe crap turnings, could change my mind if you send me a money order to help with getting me a new lathe, Nice work mate, keep shaving LB

 

[Mitch Cholewinski]

little b

Thanks for the reply on my first lamp. There aren't too many details cause I never did any spindle work so never learned much except how to turn bowls. Four years ago I turned a couple hundred pens and just started turning seriously about 10 months ago. Your absolutely right about using finishes other than shellac and var. If I want my work to improve I need to start using oil and gels, or waxes. I used them all in my furniture making. Only reason I use shellac and var is to seal the wood that I turn, everything I turn is wet. I will never get into bagging my half finished bowl and soaking them in alcohol. That isn't for me. I am nearly out of wood to turn. I'll send you that money order you wanted if you ship me a trailer load of any hardwood over here. Otherwise don't hold your breath.Kidding of course. BTW, I turned another lamp and put it together today, how about seeing what you think? Made for my girl, who doesn't want anything fancy. Little does she know her old man can't make anything fancy. I saw some of your work, now your a good turner. Keep posting. :thumbsup: Mitch

 

[littlebuddha]

Mitch thanks for the words, and if i shipped you a trailer of hardwoods it would most like cost more than the dam lathe, have to play with the father in laws. im not sure if money is more expencive than wood or the other way around these days, keep looking for them trees and broken branches and firewood piles, good thing about box making you get to use the small bits never through any wood away. keep shavin. LB.

 

[john lucas]

Nice lamp. I'm teaching a lamp making Demo in 2 weeks so I've got to make something a little less labor intensive than this one. This was part of an experiment that I am doing on how to make wood like like bricks and morter. I'm getting it down pretty good.

 

[littlebuddha]

Its a hijack Mitch, sorry. John whats the grey, is it that texture spray ?

 

[john lucas]

The textured gray is a product called Stone Flek. I sprayed that on and then sprayed it white and then stood back at a distance and sprayed gray lightly until it looked roughly the color of concrete.

 

[littlebuddha]

Stone Flek thats the stuff. comes in diff colours and multi clours.

 

[john lucas]

It's a spray can that squirts out a texture that is supposed to look like stone. It comes in different colors. The texture is pretty 3D. I use it to simulate cast metal. I spray the Stone flek and then spray it with chrome paint. Then I spray it with clear lacquer or satin lacquer. This knocks the chrome look out and looks more like shiny cast metal like a pair of pliers.

 

[Mitch Cholewinski]

John Lucas

Nice job John,I like it. How many seperate parts are there in the lamp? Is the ball turned also? How would you turn a perfect spheare, guess you would call it? Let us know how your demo turns out. BTW, little b, don't call me sir, I came up through the ranks. Mitch

 

[john lucas]

Mitch There are 5 seperate parts if you count the feet. The sphere is a glass globe. Most of the joints are between the beads.
There are some good tutorials on the web on how to turn a sphere just do a google search. I think I used "turn a wooden sphere" last time I did a search.
I turn the sphere shape between centers with a short tenon on each end. Then take a couple of scraps of wood, one for the headstock and one for the tailstock. Turn a slight depression in them. Use these to as a jam chuck to hold the sphere. Mount the sphere between these with the tenons pointing up and down. Turn these away. You will also have a shadow created by the not so perfectly round ball. turn the shadow away. Rotate the ball to some other axis and do it again. After one or two rotations of turning the shadow you will have a ball that's pretty close to round. Of course if you have too many trial and errors the ball gets smaller and smaller.They are fun to do so give it a try.