Overview:

Talmadge is one of our own, from Franklin, NC. He has demonstrated many times in the past and has been hosted the CMW Instant Gallery at the meetings for several years. By profession he is an engineer and this background has enabled him to produce his handled vessels and bowls. Several years ago it occurred to Talmadge that one seldom sees a turned bowl or vessel with handles. However, almost all glass, metal or ceramic vessels have handles attached so why not turned wood ones? Attaching a handle to a wooden vessel creates a weak area at the attachment site. This is not true of glass, metal or ceramic where the handles can be fused and their weakest point is farther out on the loop of the handle. Talmadge thus set out to make a handled vessel or bowl from a solid block of wood turned in a single piece. After trial and error he arrived at what he refers to as “Balanced Multi-Axis Turning.” This technique involves pre-planning, reasonably accurate layout, good preparation and, most of all, sound wood with good cross grain strength. In addition, good balance must be maintained throughout the procedure.

Morning Session:

Talmadge began with a slide show of his work pertaining to handled vessels and bowls. One can turn as many handles on a piece as one wishes but the number has to be even so that there are opposing handles – each handle must be directly across from the one in the chuck. Talmadge uses semi-dry wood (10-15%). There may be some shrinkage but this is not dramatic. He uses cherry primarily because of good cross grain strength. He tries to use a piece that is balanced no matter which axis he is working on.

A precut piece was placed in the lathe that had two axes, each balanced. A problem is that the axis not being worked on can bust one’s knuckles thus stay behind the tool rest.  An excellent handout was provided that showed the layout of the piece. It is important that all parts that need to can fit in the chuck. A solid tail center is used as the drive center. With this, if a “catch” occurs the piece will stop rotating or simply spin and not fly off. Again, in order to avoid injury, work behind the tool rest.

The first turning is on the horizontal axis. PVC pipe sections can be slipped on the tool rest post to assure that the center height can be returned to quickly and without wasting time with multiple adjustments. Talmadge first made a definition cut and then turned the cylinder at each end of the piece (the handles will be in the center). When turning the second or opposite end of the cylinder he reversed the piece between centers. Each end of the cylinder was squared up but about three-quarters of an inch in the centers were left intact. This is so the exact centers can always be returned to. A tenon was then turned on the tailstock end of the cylinder with a parting tool and then further defined with a skew. If the piece were large a tenon would be turned on the opposite end of the cylinder to maintain balance.

The piece was then turned on the transverse axis between centers and the handle portions developed. This was a cross grain cut so a one-quarter inch bowl gouge was used to prevent splitting of the wood. Talmadge started at the end and worked his way toward the vessel portion of the piece. It’s important to avoid cutting into the side of the cylinder. A spindle gouge can be used to make the transition to the cylinder wall. The piece was then reversed and the second handle area developed to the same diameter as the first. Once again – keep behind the tool rest! Sharp corners in the center of the piece were knocked off with a carpenter’s chisel to prevent the hand from being hit when sanding the piece.

At this point the cylinder portion and the two handle areas have been turned.  A chuck was placed on the lathe and sandpaper (rough side in – 120 grit) wrapped around one handle portion before placing it in the chuck jaws. This prevents the jaws from cutting into the wood. A few dents may be produced by the jaws but they can be eliminated by wetting the wood prior to sanding. Once the piece was in the chuck the tailstock was brought up so that true center balance was achieved. Once running true the tailstock was removed.

A fluted parting tool was then used to begin hollowing the handle. A gouge was used to further hollow the area. Hollowing was continued in stages down to the level of the cylinder wall. A diamond parting tool was also used to assist in hollowing at deeper levels. Depth of the handle was measured with calipers and further defined to the cylinder wall. [A scraper could be used to define the interior of the handle. The bottom of the interior of the handle should be slightly dome shaped to follow the lines of the vessel’s exterior.] The interior of the handle was defined with the bowl gouge to avoid some sanding. The piece was then removed from the chuck and reversed - again using the sandpaper around the handle before placing in the chuck. The tailstock was brought up to insure centering and then removed so that the second handle could be hollowed. [A three-eighths inch handle thickness is strived for.] To achieve accurate depth when hollowing, tape can be placed on the parting tool at the appropriate place. At this point both handles have been hollowed. Dents caused by the chuck were again repaired with dampening and sanding. The handles were sanded with sandpaper wrapped around a paint stirrer. The piece was then removed from the chuck and replaced by a second chuck that would grip the tenon previously formed on the cylinder portion of the piece. The tailstock was brought up to center or true the piece using the center that had been left on earlier. This enabled Talmadge to form the handles. The top of the vessel was in the tailstock end. He used the image of the turning piece to gently shape the handles. A one-quarter inch bowl gouge was used to form the handle using very little pressure. To form the transition from handle to vessel wall a parting tool was used instead of a gouge. Some sanding was done and the outside of the handles completed. The headstock (bottom) end of the vessel was then shaped but enough wood left to support the work when hollowing the top portion.

The top portion of the vessel was shaped. The parting tool was used in the area of transition between the top of the vessel and the inside of the handles. The handles were then formed. The tailstock was removed to give better tool access to the piece. The handles were then completed with the bowl gouge and a small round rod scraper. Sanding of the inside of the handles was done with a portion of PVC pipe wrapped with foam and sandpaper. This completed the morning session. (Hollowing of the vessel would be done after lunch.)

Afternoon Session:

This session began with completion of the outer surface of the vessel. At this point any carving would be done using a carving gouge or a carpenter’s chisel. Sanding was then done. Sanding sticks can be used to get into tight areas between the handle and the vessel’s body.

Hollowing was then begun. A hole was bored first using a hand-held bit. A Berger hollowing tool, which is quite aggressive for end grain work, was then used. A scraper was used to refine the interior wall surfaces which were then sanded. The piece was removed from the chuck (after marking the position of one jaw on the piece). A jam chuck was turned to fit into the top of the vessel so that the bottom of the vessel could be finished. This completed the Multi-Axis Two Handled Vessel.

A two handled bowl was started. The pattern was drawn on a block of cherry so that the two handles protruded into two corners of the block which conserved wood and provided greater depth to the handles. This was band sawed to shape. The centers of the bowl were determined as were those of the two handles. A recess for an expansion chuck was turned on both the top and bottom of the bowl portion.

Talmadge then formed the handles with the piece in the horizontal axis as had been done with the vessel in the morning session. A bowl gouge was initially used followed by a spindle gouge for the transition from handle to bowl proper. The piece was reversed and the other handle formed. After removing the piece a chuck was placed on the headstock. The piece was now in the transverse axis. As earlier, sandpaper was wrapped around the handle portion prior to chucking. The tailstock was used to true up the piece – then removed. One handle was hollowed down to the eventual outer surface of the bowl. The interior of the handle was then cleaned up with the spindle gouge – then sanded. The piece was reversed and the other handle hollowed. As earlier, the handles were dampened prior to sanding to remove dents produced by the jaw.

The two handled bowl piece was then replaced for demonstration purposes with a partially turned eight handled bowl. It was chucked on the top of the bowl. The underside of the eight handles was formed as was the bottom of the bowl. A bowl gouge was used – then a parting tool for the transition from handles to bowl surface. Talmadge was careful not to make the edges of the bottom too thin because of the undercut tenon. If too thin the expansion jaws might split off the tenon. The piece was then reversed and the top of the handles formed as well as the top of the bowl. Handle thickness was marked prior to forming. A skew was used to more closely define the angle between the handles and the bowl wall. The piece was reversed and the power carver used to clean out the handle openings on the bowl’s outer surface. Again, the piece was reversed and the bottom placed in the chuck. The bowl was then hollowed using both a flat ground and a side grind bowl gouge. A scraper was used to clean up and the interior sanded. The piece was reversed and jam chucked so that the bottom could be turned. This completed the handled bowl.

Next Talmadge placed a cherry cylinder between centers. Again he used the flat fixed live center as the drive center. A line was drawn midway between centers. This line would determine the centers of the handles. Four handles were laid out using the indexing wheel every ninety degrees. At each ninety degrees a cut was made parallel to the lathe bed. A skew was used to lightly cut the center line. This gave a cross-cut at each ninety degrees. Now the entire layout was complete except for the diameter of the vessel and the size of the handles. A parting line was made one-eighth inch outside each handle area. Both ends were then turned to the determined diameter and a tenon made on each end.

The piece was removed from between centers and rotated 180 degrees. Two of the pre-marked handles were placed between centers. Handles were formed. Due to the rounded surface of the handle ends the initial cuts were done by a skew to avoid tear-out – then a parting tool was used followed by a bowl gouge. Handles were turned down to the surface of the cylinder. The piece was rotated and the remaining two handles formed down to the surface of the vessel. Due to time restrictions this completed a great demonstration. A DVD will be available in the club library in February 2006.

Handouts

More Talmadge Murphey: