the evolution of a shape

The evolution of a shape

I thought I would show three boxes that I have made recently, these boxes show how I prefer to work by slightly altering the shape and design of each box from the previous box. 

Essentially I look at the first box and take the parts of the box I really like and try to incorporate them into the next box.

This olivewood box was the first box that I made

I liked the shape of the concave base and thought it could repeat and work well for a stacking box.

olivewood box

olivewood box

This pear wood box was next and although i really like it i had made each section bigger than the previous by 5mm in height and I wanted to try a smaller increment to see how that looked.

pear wood box

this ash box is the last one I have made, this box has an odd number of sections and has 3mm increments

ash box

I hope you can see how I prefer to work not just with boxes but anything I make on the lathe. 

I know some makers sketch or do detailed drawings first but I prefer to see the item, try to understand what it is I do and do not like, then make alterations with the next one I make.

new oak vase/vessels

New oak vase/vessels

Here are two oak vase/vessels that I have finished recently.

I'm not quite sure what to call them as to me a vase is a practical item which can be used for flowers, which these cannot, but when I hear the word vessel I think of big ships like the titanic!!

These are turned from green/wet wood to a wall thickness of about 4 or 5 mm then allowed to dry and distort for a couple of weeks in my home then I mark out the design I want with a pencil and then cut and shape them using a tenon saw,rasps and sanding drums.

I then apply an oil finish.

Hybrid masks

Hybrid masks

This past week I have been finishing off a batch of 4 hybrid ornamental masks, I say finishing off as the process to make the masks started a few months ago when I buy the Australian burr and start to process it ready for casting.

I have made some of these masks before a few years ago and spoke about how the original idea was based on seeing an ornament (prop) in the background of the TV show Fraiser.

I looked at the shape and quickly seen how simple it would be to make, the first couple I made in wood weren't perfect but I soon developed the process and improved the proportions.

I post all my work on instagram, its a kind of daily blog and I have been a bit gob smacked by how many requests (sometimes demands!!) I have had publicly and by private direct message to make a video showing how these are made.

what is the difference in the culture from the first time I made these a few years ago to now where people think that they MUST be shown how its done and get annoyed when I politely decline?

Its not a secret, the design is not unique and they are not protected in some way, its simply a made up design, but why should I spend my time showing step by step how I make them for others to copy when i am trying to make a living and do not get paid for youtube, in fact I have had to turn the comments of on my current youtube videos due to the hate comments I was receiving!

I think part of it is the difference between a hobby person and a full time person, but there is also something else going on that I cant work out.

hybrid & stabilised confusion!

Hybrid & stabilised confusion!

Its come to my attention that people seem to be getting mixed up between a hybrid blank and stabilised wood, and in some cases even selling a hybrid blank as a stabilised blank.

What is a hybrid blank?

In general terms a hybrid blank is a resin blank with something (usually burr wood) embedded within it.

like this example that I have made

what is stabilising 

stabilising is a way to make soft or punky woods hard, this is done under vacuum where a special resin is drawn in and then after the vacuum process is over it is heat cured essentially making a piece of wood which will no longer gain or loose moisture.

I have blogged about the process before here and here

Some woods cannot be stabilised as they are already very dense and the resin under vacuum simply does not penetrate.

and just to confuse matters more you can have a hybrid blank which features a piece of wood which has been stabilised.

In summary

just like casting with resin stabilising wood is a very labour intensive process and costly when done correctly, unfortunately there are some ways to cut corners and make it look like the wood is stabilised when actually its not!! so beware of what you are buying and specially how it has been made.

turned box design

Turned box design

I tend to work in batches and I have been making a batch of turned boxes for a few weeks now.

one of the designs I like to make is the shape shown here in this hybrid box

Hybrid box

hybrid box

I was asked if I could keep the concave shape on the side of the lid but increase the width of the opening to make the box more practical for my customers storage needs.

This spalted beech box was my first attempt.

spalted beech box

spalted beech box

and then I went on to try tow more boxes in olivewood and camphor burr each time slightly altering the proportions.

olivewood box

camphor burr box

I enjoyed exploring this design and will hopefully make more in the future.

Masur birch box

Masur birch box

I love masur birch and have wanted to make a larger masur birch box for quite a while now but I cant seem to find masur birch spindle blanks in sizes larger than 65mm square. 

So I recently bought a 60mm thick by 180mm square cross grain bowl blank from Feines Holz in Germany.

I knew that cross grain boxes can be a challenge but masur birch cuts so cleanly I hoped I could make it work.

I cut the blank into quarters, to give me four pieces 90x90x60mm

I turned some scrap wood and attached them to the blanks with epoxy glue.

I cut the blanks on the bandsaw giving the base of the box 5mm extra than the top to allow for the tenon 

At this stage I set the wood aside for a week or so in my house to settle, i knew it wouldn't take too long as the wood was already at 9% moisture content when i bought it.

once happy that the wood was dry and stable I then turned the clam shell style box.

The glue blocks worked well and allowed me to use this thinner material to its full depth.

You never can tell...

You never can tell..

Its been an odd sort of week since my last post:

I was contacted about doing a demo again.... which I have had to turn down again!

I have been worrying about my lathe and lack of space and whether to get a second lathe... again!

and after spending a small fortune on a new camera.. I had a 30 second mobile phone video go viral!

and its that that relates to the title of this post as it has happened to me a couple of time now where what I think is a brilliant piece of work drops like a lead balloon and then a quick phone picture or video takes off like a rocket!!

why does one thing get picked up and shared and another does not? is too complicated for me to understand but it is certainly a nice feeling when it does happen as it not only boosts my confidence and picks me up but also boosts website traffic and traffic to my etsy shop.

Here is the video that went well on Instagram with 260k views

Bocote box with sycamore collar and internal lid. #woodturning #wood #box #video

A video posted by George Watkins (@from_the_tree) on Sep 6, 2016 at 9:04am PDT

And here is a similar video that went well on my facebook page. 

AAW turning of the week

American Association of woodturners 

turning of the week

I am very proud to have had my black and white ebony box chosen as turning of the week on the AAW website.

here are some more pictures of the box which is currently available to buy in my etsy shop here

From buying the wood to finished item

From buying the wood to finished item

I thought you might like to see part of the process that I used recently to make some buckeye burr hybrid blanks and a finished box with one of them.

First off allot of people don't realise how hard it is to buy buckeye burr in the u.k and how few American sellers are willing to sell it!

I found this piece of blonde buckeye burr on the US version of eBay and he was willing to ship outside the US

how the wood looked when it was delivered

the wood was covered in a type of wax but luckily it was slightly oversized at 70mm so I was able to cut a thin strip of each edge on the bandsaw removing the wax from the outside surfaces.

I cut it into 3 blanks and used a burr in a dremel type tool to clean out the bark inclusion cavity's

after cutting to size and cleaning

The wood was then stabilised under vacuum in cactus juice resin to harden it

being stabilised in the vacuum chamber

once cured I cleaned out any excess stabilising resin from the cavity's and could cast it with coloured resin to form solid blanks.

I chose one in green, one in blue and one in a smoky grey/black

the 3 blanks after casting

I have sold the green blank on my website and have turned the black blank into a box, I am still unsure as to what to do with the blue blank.

the finished black resin box