Some other finger joint designs.

One that is of a different sort.
I did not complete the glue up by keeping the 8 sides from reaching their seated positions against the next piece but rather held them away from each other by a half inch or so.
this gives a spacing which travels at a 45 degree angle from the center of the vase.
When a candle is lit inside the light is thrown at these angles in a soft way making a collection on all the walls of rectangular lighted squares appear all around the room.
If your girl loves candle light this one will make a great Xmas gift.
I used Mahogany and butternut.
Careful don’t lite the place on fire.
Steve

Here is something that came to mind that i have never seen before.
Combining joinery with turning.
had trouble with the dove tail so stuck with the finger joint.
Used it in an 8 sided box off a special jig i made in my shop.
I really loved the look of it as you can tell.
Its hard to know where one piece ends and another begins.
Lots of fun to play with this design, however the shape is limited.
Only a straight fluted design will work for the body. Also at the end of the fingers you are turning end grain which may or may not need a little help with puddy in the finishing.
Also the glue up is difficult and required a slow setting formula. Tight bond makes a good one.
But the result is well worth the trouble.
Steve

Here is something fun and new.
I found a plywood section of an old pallet in the dumpster at Home Depo.
I have used it in a number of experiments.
this one came out kinda nice.
Wavy gravy plywood with cherry and walnut with mahogany bottom and top.
Gives me other better ideas on how to combine this technique with other venues.
Steve

Here is a unique vase. Willow is a great turning wood, however it is very noghty, notty, anyway, it takes almost an entire tree to get a couple board feet of clear material. That being said it turns sweet and gives off a golden luster when finished. Ebony X is a process of dying veneer in a rust and apple cider vinegar solution to dye it black.

In the 50’s long before I was born ( OK, about the same time) the Seeley family presented a unique gift to their retired father and aspiring woodworker, my grand father, George Seeley. It was a Homecraft, Delta, Rockwell wood turning lathe. It passed from family to family after his death and ended up at our house as I was growing up. During high school I took an interest in wood working, winning a couple of awards for various high school projects. The lathe remained in the basement, challenging me to try it. At the time I was not up to the task and it remained neglected and rusting. When my parents divorced in the 80’s it was decision time for me with the lathe and so I began carting it around through the 80’s and 90’s never really using it but knowing it was important and held something of value for me.
In the late 90’s my wife Carol and I settled in a small town between Concord and Manchester NH. It was time to dust off and oil the lathe and see what it had to offer. At first it was smaller bowls and the like. Around 2005 I saw the work of a local turner named Gordon. His work was different than anything I had ever seen before because it was made of many pieces of wood glued together rather than one single piece. Gordon was my introduction to segmented turning. One of the rare places where art and craft collide. Shortly after meeting Gordon I read ‘The art of segmented turning’ by Malcolm Tibbits. I was hooked. The possibilities and combinations were endless. Expression and discovery were easy to explore with this new form of wood medium. And not just wood. I have experimented with many different materials. Stone, Glass, Shells and Coral all can be used as an inlay into the wooden vessel on the lathe. The limits of one’s imagination are the limits of what can be done on my grand fathers lathe.
This blog is an attempt to allow others to see some of that craft/art in a hope that it will inspire and give tribute in some small way to my grandfather whom I was never able to meet.
Steve

I am learning how to blog.
Tonight I learned how to enter pictures.
Tomorrow the world.
thanks Matthew you are a dear friend
Dad