Turning a laminated wooden vase on the lathe

I've made a series of wooden vases and similar items by laminating contrasting boards, then turning them on the lathe. I like to use walnut, maple and either bloodwood or padauk to create a white/black/red theme. I almost never use stains, instead I just finish the wood with clear wipe-on polyurethane, using two coats for a fairly matte finish.

Product Review: Grizzly 4003G metal gunsmith lathe

I recently bought a Grizzly 4003G lathe, which has proven to be a very useful tool in my shop and a major upgrade from my previous lathe. The 4003G is a great value, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a 12x36 lathe for hobby or semi-pro work.

Holiday woodworking projects

I made this vase by laminating walnut, maple, and bloodwood, into a 5" square by 14" long block, then turning the composite block on a wood lathe. I drilled a 1-5/8" hole with a forstner bit and extension, then inserted a closed acrylic tube so that the vase can hold water (and fresh flowers).


This picture frame is made from walnut, yellow heart, and bloodwood. The pattern is NOT inlay, it is solidly constructed by gluing small blocks of bloodwood and yellow heart between two long pieces of walnut. The entire glued assembly was planed, then cut into segments to make the frame. The needlework of the rose was done by my aunt.

Laminated wooden bowl

I made this bowl by a method that I have not previously tried. The idea is to make a flat laminated board of contrasting woods, then cut rings out of the board and laminate the rings into a stacked shape. This link describes the method for the bowl in the place setting

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/proj_articles/placesetting/

I rotated each ring 45* with respect to the ring below it. This is good since the ring seams do not line up, and the bowl has a more wild, interesting pattern.

I am not good at turning feet on bowls, since I do not have a very good chucking system on my lathe, and don't get much practice with turning feet. Instead, once I cut the bowl off the lathe (or remove it from the drive plate), I just sand the bottom flat, and add some felt to cover the surface.

Cutting a corner radius on the lathe

I use a round-over router bit in my lathe toolpost to leave an attractive, uniform edge on the part. I mostly work with plastic, so the tooling angles are not as critical as for metal.



Here are two 1" long 1" dia sections of white Delrin. The upper piece has its right edge rounded over by the 1/8" radius router bit.

Lathe-turned wood vase

Here is another project that I completed a couple years ago. It was a wedding present for a good friend.

I started by laminating pieces of rosewood, padauk, maple and walnut in a symmetric pattern. After the glue dried, I sawed off the corners, and mounted it in my wood lathe.
This was the largest chunk of wood that I had ever turned. The lathe took almost 5 seconds to get up to speed, and I was more than a little concerned about the wood coming loose.


I only have one proper wood lathe tool. It's a rough gouge, and I use only that tool to get very close to the final shape on most of my projects.

I use chisels, files, rasps, and finally sandpaper to finish the piece. I usually sand to 220 grit while the piece is still on the lathe. For the final pass, I stop the lathe and sand by hand in the direction of the grain.

I built a crazy-long extension for a Forstner bit.


I made an acrylic tube that sits down into the vase, allowing it to hold water without damage to the wood. The top section of the vase is painted with black semi-gloss. The wood finish is either wipe-on polyurethane or a Tung oil finish (I can't remember).