WISE TWIG CRAFTS

CAPTIVE RING ASH GOBLET

the ASH blank

I started with a piece of round Ash Blank roughly 60mm diameter by 275mm long. I attached it to the lathe via a chuck with 50mm jaws which is perfect to hold on compression. It was centred up using the Tail Stock with a Live centre, this was kept in play until I had removed enough material to near my final dimension of the widest parts, those being the top of the goblet and the captive ring. From this I then marked out the sizing’s for the length of all the individual parts within the design on the side of the blank. It was then a fairly simple and quick jump to start hollowing out the cup part.

Hollowing the goblet

Beginning with taking the Live centre out of the tail stock, I moved to adding my Jacobs chuck with a 32mm Forstner bit in it. Slowly progressing it into the blank until reaching a depth of approximately 50mm. I could then move onto using a round Carbide tool to further hollow out the form going down to the end of the Forstner bit depth and then a little further to smooth out the wall to base transition. Using a small bowl gouge I was able to get a nice final cut on the inside to aid the sanding process. Its at this point I go from 240 to 400 grit, ensuring that any small tooling marks are removed before polishing.

Using abrasive pastes

Once the sanding is completed to a level where you can no longer find tooling marks, harsh scratches, its time to move onto an abrasive paste. I use (for the most part) a product called Yorkshire Grit, its a great bit of kit and you simply add a little to your piece with a tissue or woodturning cloth, these are better than rag as they tear if caught up, rather than dragging your hands into the rotating works. But as you use it, it slowly gets finer and finer, causing a sanding action that builds to a very smooth finish, ready to move onto polishing, Shelac and/or other finishes you wish to use.

the captive ring

The captive ring is a challenge, especially when you don’t have the prescribed tool for the job, but I wanted to have a go anyway. To actually achieve this, I took an old thin carving tool, squared off the edges and then tapered it to an elbowed point. This then meant I could move it along the tool rest in an arc formation to create both the outside profile and start the inside profile that would eventually meet up with it. The base of the cup section blends nicely into making the recess for measuring up the ring, as long as you go slowly, the ring starts to form and all you need to do is prevent trappage or a catch that will inevitably ring the ring apart. Just need to remember to sand the outside of the ring as far as you can and as close to the inner section as possible, because once its parted company with the stem, its a pain to sand.

Turning the Stem

The stem of any wine goblet or vessel is the focal point of an item as it gives shape and flow to the piece. Without a nice looking stem a piece can fall short and its even more important with captive ring goblets due to the rings movement up and down the stem. To allow the tools to be used the ring must be taped to one side to keep it safe and out of the way. Its also very important to support the piece at the tail stock end due to the vast amount of material that will be removed. As best as possible you want to try and keep to your design as its very easy to start taking too much material away and be left with an odd looking item or a delicate area prone to breakage. With this in mind, take it easy and follow the flow from the cup to the base, I found it useful to finalise the base before starting the stem so as to have a visual marker, for how much to take away.

bringing it together

When you have a final shape you are happy with, its best to go through the grits to a nice fine finish. The idea that a goblet is rough doesn’t appeal to many, its sometime quite therapeutic to stand for an hour and get it just right. Obviously I wanted to ensure a good finish on this, so went through the usual grits (240 - 400) and then moved onto Yorkshire Grit. I did this over the entire piece and took care to ensure that the coverage was even and thorough. It was quite difficult to sort the captive ring out but with a little tissue wedged under the centre and tape to the sides, I could use the papers and grits to full effect. Its then I found a slight issue with the stem, it has a twist in the grain which had parted slightly. It was a simple fix and superglue (Cyanoacrylate) to the rescue. Then sanded back through the grits and paste, all sorted, ready for polish.