# ooops ... a little too thin



## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

I'm trying to develop hollowing skills, aiming to make some thin-walled vessels suitable for decorating and piercing. (Anyone who's seen Binh Pho's work will know the type of thing I'm working towards.)

This started well enough, but I got just a teensy bit over-ambitious on the side wall. The rim is about 1/16th thick.

Learned a couple of lessons from it -- which was the whole point, and the reason why I'm using some not-enough-flame-to-call-it-flame-box-elder (i.e., it's more or less scrap wood.)

If I hadn't blown it, this would have been about 4.5" tall and 2.5" diameter. There is still about 2" un-hollowed on the inside, so I'll cut it down and keep practicing till I get to the bottom.


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## dhh57 (Feb 17, 2014)

I'd leave it like it is


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

dhh57 said:


> I'd leave it like it is


As a reminder?


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

It's the only way I know to learn, screw up. Finish hollowing it very carefully just for practice. Then incorporate the torn are into your piercing. That may not work since it's probably almost that thin all the way around the piece at that point unless it's wood movement that gave you the problems.
Keep slugging away. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with later.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

john lucas said:


> ... Finish hollowing it very carefully just for practice. Then incorporate the torn are into your piercing. That may not work since it's probably almost that thin all the way around the piece at that point unless it's wood movement that gave you the problems.
> ...


Thanks for suggesting I keep going with it just as-is, that'll give me practice at going deeper (which I also need to improve). Do you think I should wrap it with film and/or tape to keep it from blowing up? That would make it even harder to judge the wall thickness.

(The piece that would break off probably wouldn't do any damage, it would weigh less than an ounce.)

Yes, it's that thin all the way round ... here's the forum logo as it looks through the wall :laughing:


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## PhilipCollier (Jan 2, 2012)

Put a stain on it and out an LED light in it. Should give a nice glow through it.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

tape would keep it together. rubber bands will keep it from chattering so much as you turn it. Just takes one or two.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

You making toilet paper? Lol
Wow that's thin, but cool.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

PhilipCollier said:


> Put a stain on it and out an LED light in it. Should give a nice glow through it.


My objective is to decorate with woodburning followed by airbrushing paint -- a light inside might still look good :smile:


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## dhh57 (Feb 17, 2014)

I just like it that way. put finish on it and call it done.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Dunc, you made the cardinal mistake of hollowing....you turned the inside bigger than the outside :blink::laughing:


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Dominick said:


> You making toilet paper?


Ouch ... not a place I'd want to get a splinter :icon_cry:



dhh57 said:


> I just like it that way. put finish on it and call it done.


Uh-uh ... it's not done till I've learned how to hollow properly :no: This piece is all about practice and learning, I didn't expect it to be anything other than a pile of shavings and dust.



sawdustfactory said:


> Dunc, you made the cardinal mistake of hollowing....you turned the inside bigger than the outside :blink::laughing:


What can I say? Too much Dr Who as a youngster, I was trying to make a tardis :laughing:


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Nice one Dunc,
We all have one or two of those lying around. When I go to hollow, I usually turn them as thin as you did, until it just breaks through, then back it off an eight of an inch.:laughing:
Mike Hawkins


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

firehawkmph said:


> Nice one Dunc,
> We all have one or two of those lying around. When I go to hollow, I usually turn them as thin as you did, until it just breaks through, then back it off an eight of an inch.:laughing:
> Mike Hawkins


Does Doug Thompson make a Back-off Gouge? I'd buy one of those in a heartbeat ... :whistling2:


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

The back off gouge is just like the Oh #$%@ key that I think should be on every computer. when you do something wrong on the computer and it puts you in some mode you don't know how to get out of you just say Oh #[email protected]% and the computer hears you and automatically reverses what you just did.


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## DonAlexander (Apr 12, 2012)

Well, as a newbie at the lathe, Duncsuss seems to be learning and teaching because I've sure learned a few things. 
-Turners seem to have a keen sense of humor. 
-The reverse option I see on some lathes apparently just spins the wood in the other direction, it doesn't actually reverse what you just did.
-Backoff gouges are likely sold right next to 'sky-hooks' 
-The prime rule of bowl turning is keep the outside bigger than the inside unless turning a tardis (I presume there's another exception for turning Klein flasks)

And I've inferred that you practice on scrap as the mistakes are not as funny on a $100 chunk of wood.

Interesting stuff. I'm feeling "educated".


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

DonAlexander said:


> -Turners seem to have a keen sense of humor.
> -The reverse option I see on some lathes apparently just spins the wood in the other direction, it doesn't actually reverse what you just did.
> -Backoff gouges are likely sold right next to 'sky-hooks'
> -The prime rule of bowl turning is keep the outside bigger than the inside unless turning a tardis (I presume there's another exception for turning Klein flasks)


All true -- but note that in Britain they use different terminology, it's called a "Backon gouge" 



> And I've inferred that you practice on scrap as the mistakes are not as funny on a $100 chunk of wood.


The most true of all ... that $100 wood doesn't grow on trees, you know.



> Interesting stuff. I'm feeling "educated".


:laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## Bonanza35 (Jan 20, 2011)

It gets really hard for me to caliper the difference between 1/16" and Oh $&#%!! while turning. At 1/8" you can cut 1/16" too deep and be fine. A 1/16" wall doesn't give you that luxury. 

I just turned a big salad bowl I was really excited about but when I turned off the tenon it became clear that I had cut a bit to deep inside. It is a very dark piece of elm but you could read the paper through the cellophane-thin bottom in a well lit room. Oh well, another bowl for my personal collection of rejects.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Bonanza35 said:


> I just turned a big salad bowl I was really excited about but when I turned off the tenon it became clear that I had cut a bit to deep inside.


I've got one of those too -- a natural-edge birch bowl that I turned wet. There's no way I'll be able to clean up the tenon/foot without it tearing out of the bottom, when I hold it up to a light there's a ring around the tenon like a solar eclipse :laughing:


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

I think we've all done at least one of those at some point ;-)


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## Dejure (Sep 2, 2009)

Isn't that a design change? Looks like a good rotary tool could finish and detail out the fretwork you started..............


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Dejure said:


> Isn't that a design change? Looks like a good rotary tool could finish and detail out the fretwork you started..............


It could be :laughing:

I'm planning to move into perforation as a future step, not ready to go there just yet.


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## Dejure (Sep 2, 2009)

Oh, and I can, honestly, say I've never done this. Of course, one of these days I might actually get near a lathe

We won't talk about the things that have filled my scrap bins near the saws, will we?


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## Daniel Jechura (Dec 17, 2012)

I still do once in a while. Turn out the center and add a plug. Call it art.


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