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The vessel produced in this sequence is un-lovely, I will be the first to admit, but this was designed to be a technique demo! My excuse
remains that trying to work around the tripod legs, at arms length and whilst keeping my big head out of the camera sightline gives me the excuse for any errors, however appalling!! |
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Instead here (above) are the shots of what it looked like from my viewpoint and (below) - what really happenened (I think!).
The
workpiece had a diameter of 175mm (7") and a finished internal depth of 95mm (3.3/4"). Neck aperture was 42mm (1.5/8") and a 1/2" Supercut was used. The timber was European Field Maple. |
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The basic premises still apply. The tool will not cut when the cutter is presented straight on to the surface with no "angle of
incidence". The tool is presented with the shank/shaft horizontal, parallel to the lathe bed. |
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First off, imagine that our blank is still a solid lump of timber. Hollowing is started as for a bowl, creating a
depression in the top surface, then progressively working this deeper. |
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With a relatively narrow entrance hole, access will soon become a problem and a small scraper can be used to create a bit of
space within which the Supercut can be manouvered. Note the variation in head to shaft angle to get the cutter into the right relationship to the timber surface. |
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Life gets easier as the void gets larger. Use the head angle variations range to bring the cutting edge onto the wall at
various positions around the vessel to allow hollowing to continue. |
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Once space permits, crank the head to a postion where it can reach under the shoulder and refine this area.
Beware that as the degree of offset of the head increases, the amount of torque on the tool handle will increase. The optional outrigger and side handle both help resist this torque. |
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Continue to work around the inner walls to refine the shape and the wall thickness, taking special care under the shoulder
area which, in deep hollowing, can cause the unwary to suffer catches. |
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Unlike bowl work where the head can usually be left at the same angle relative to the shaft throughout the project, vessel hollowing requires
frequent adjustment of this angle to maintain the correct angle between the cutter and the vessel wall. This is particularly true in the case of narrow-necked vessels where the access restrictions impose limits on
the manouverability of the tool.Note however, that the cutter angle relative to the mounting again remained constant throughout this exercise at around 45 degrees. |
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To demonstrate what is happening inside a hollow form is not easy without a modicum of cheating. I did consider the ultimate cheat of showing the
outside form of the vessel and claiming that it was perfectly hollowed - but the few cycnics out there may just have doubted my word! ;=)).
