Hanging Vessel

John Hawkswell turns a beautiful spalted beech and yew box with a curved support arm and base

Artistic wooden sculpture with intricate design on stand.

Design considerations

The idea behind this project is to let the vessel appear to be unsupported. To maintain this illusion the stand should be as unobtrusive as possible, hence its plain colour. Also, the support arm is shaped to follow the curve of the turned work. The pins that connect the vessel to the arm can assist this effect. The longer the pins, the more the vessel seems to float in space. The holes for the pins should not puncture the inside wall and this means a slightly greater wall thickness is required for the main body.

Plans & equipment

PlanDownload

Tools & equipment

  • PPE & RPE as appropriate
  • Spindle roughing gouge
  • 13mm spindle gouge
  • 13mm round skew
  • 25mm round-nose scraper
  • Reg Sherwin roughing out gouge
  • Beading and parting tool
  • Narrow parting tool
  • Diamond parting tool
  • 3mm and 4mm drill bits
  • Vernier callipers

Materials

  • Spalted beech spindle blank 125 x 70mm
  • Piece of yew 100 x 70mm
  • Length of sycamore or other plain timber 300 x 70 x 12mm
  • Abrasives 120 grit down to 240 grit
  • Sanding sealer
  • Abrasive wax
  • Beeswax

Top tips

Tip 1. Steb centres offer several advantages compared to a two or four-prong drive. They are more forgiving in the event of a catch and it is easier to relocate the exact centre accurately when remounting work on the lathe. Steb centres or ring centres used at both ends can be particularly advantageous when turning laminated blanks which could be prised apart by conventional cone drives. Woodturners sometimes find they turn better in one direction than another. With a steb centre at each end, you can easily reverse the work in the lathe to turn in the direction you like best.

Tip 2. You can melt wax to fill small cracks and holes in the wood using a chef’s blowtorch. Keep body parts well away from the flame and remove shavings and other combustible material from the vicinity. Any wax crayons will do, but furniture retouch crayons are particularly suitable since they come in packs that cover most of the shades you find in timber.

Tip 3. Small cracks can also be filled with superglue or a mixture of sawdust and glue.

The making

Wooden block on a lathe machine.

1. First inspect the wood for any likely problems, such as cracks or woodworm holes and soft or ‘punky’ spots. Some woods, such as spalted beech, are prone to such imperfections. Mount the blank between centres. In the photo, a steb centre is being used at the headstock end (see Tips). Use a spindle roughing gouge to turn the blank to a cylinder

Wood lathe chisel carving wooden cylinder.
2. True up the end of the blank with a parting tool, then with the same tool form a tenon that will fit your chuck. Make sure the shoulders are clean and rest on the outer surface of the chuck jaws thus ensuring a good grip
Woodturning spindle on a lathe machine.
3. Mount the work in the chuck and turn away any wobble so it runs true. With a parting tool, form the rim of the vessel. Normally the next job is to turn the external shape before hollowing, but this is not possible because the torpedo shape would mean there would be insufficient wood left at the headstock end to support the stresses of hollowing. Therefore, the hollowing out has to be completed first, using a spindle gouge and a scraper to refine the surface prior to sanding. Sand and finish the inside
Wood drilled with masking tape applied.
4. With the work still on the lathe, this is a good point at which to drill the holes for the pins that will attach the vessel to the support arm. It is important that the holes are vertical and the exact spacing between holes can be reproduced on the support arm. To this end a little jig is used, as shown. To create the jig, turn and hollow a cylinder which matches the diameter of the vessel. Cut out a segment and secure to the vessel with masking tape. A piece of tape wrapped around the drill bit will act as a depth stop
Applying black paint on wood with masking tape
5. Spalted beech is prone to woodworm. If you are lucky, the affected wood can be turned away and nobody will know. Where this is not the case other remedies exist. Rather than abandon the piece of wood, one of the options with small cracks and holes is to fill them with wax of an appropriate shade. The photo shows a chef’s blowtorch melting black wax to fill some worm holes. They are now disguised as a bit of extra spalting
Wood drill on lathe machine in workshop
6. Mount the blank for the lid between centres, turn to a cylinder, and form a tenon to fit the chuck. Mark the recess required and, with a parting tool, make a V-shaped depression in the centre. This helps centre the drill bit. (A small gouge could be used instead. This hole is both an aid to hollowing and a guide to the depth required.)
Wood lathe turning a wooden cylinder.
7. Clean the face of the blank with a spindle gouge. Before hollowing out the lid we need to fit the recess to the body. A tight fit would be good because we are going to fit the body to the lid in order to refine the shape of the whole vessel. The photo shows a parting tool being used to form the recess. Before moving on, check the fit. If it is too loose there is plenty of material to remake the recess
Chisel carving inside wooden cylinder on lathe.
8. Hollow out the lid. As it is not very deep, a spindle gouge makes an ideal hollowing tool. There is some checking visible inside the lid but the surface feels smooth, so no action is taken. In this instance there is no call for superglue. Once you are happy with the inside of the lid, sand and finish
Woodturning tool shaping wood on a lathe machine.
9. With the lid section still in the chuck, fit the body of the vessel to the lid and bring up the tailstock, engaging the witness mark left when the blank was initially turned between centres. Now shape the main body. The photo shows a Reg Sherwin spindle roughing gouge in use for the initial stage of this job. Whatever tool is used, a slicing cut will leave a finer finish
Wood being shaped on a lathe in workshop.
10. Continue shaping the vessel and tapering the bottom of the body. I have switched to a spindle gouge with a long bevel for this part of the job in order to turn the lid while keeping sufficient supporting timber in place. Take the diameter of the base down to 6mm and, with a skew chisel, part off the end flat, or slightly concave. With the base still attached to the lid, drill a 3mm diameter hole in the bottom of the base. Sand and finish
Wood carving on lathe with turning tool
11. The bottom finial can be turned to fit the base of the vessel. If you have pin jaws on your chuck these come in handy for a job like this, although you could just turn the part between centres. Form a teardrop finial with a small spindle gouge, sand and finish. Turn the 3mm diameter tenon using a parting tool then glue the finial in place at the base of the vessel
Woodturning a spindle with a lathe tool.
12. Turn a jam chuck to accommodate the lid. It needs to be secured firmly but do not force it since yew has a tendency to split. Bring up the tailstock using the original witness mark. With a small spindle gouge, start turning the finial
Person using jigsaw to cut wood shape.
13. Mark out the support arm on a piece of plain timber 10mm thick. Carefully cut around the pencil line with a scrollsaw or a jigsaw. Clean up the edges with a rasp and abrasives to remove any tool marks and leave a smooth surface
Wooden tools on black background.
14. Cut out the base and sand. If desired, the edges can be chamfered using a router with a 45° cutter, or created manually by planing. The support arm is fixed to the base by means of a shallow mortice and tenon joint. With a hand saw, cut the tenon in the base of the arm support. Then mark out the mortice on the base and drill out most of the waste using a depth stop. Clean out the mortice with a chisel or knife. A dowel joint could be used instead if preferred
Close-up of wooden sculpture with curved design.
15. Finish the base and support arm with clear varnish or the finish of your choice. Turn two pins and glue the vessel to the support arm, taking care to ensure that the vessel is held vertically

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN HAWKSWELL

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