LITTLE ASH POT
playing around all blank
With the blank on the lathe and enough material to have a mess around, its always worth taking some time to play with the tools, see what you can do. To this end, I decided to try making thin rings within the blank to practice with a new Carbide Tool. After that, I took the blank down to just outside the largest diameter I wanted for the final product.
Shaping and Fitting the lid
The lid was always going to be a shapely affair and to get the fitment the best possible, I went slow with this one, the inner of the lid was fairly simple and was just a case of taking out a slither at a time until the match to the tenon of the pot was good and snug, so much so that its lightly too tight, this way when I got round to sanding it didn’t get slack at the point of finishing out.
Hollowing and logo placement
Hollowing the inside of the pot with a 30mm Forstner bit taken down to about 30mm and then finishing out the hollowing with both a Square End Carbide Tool and traditional small finger nail gouge. The finishing for all parts to this piece were the usual sandpapers from 180-400grit, Yorkshire Grit, and then a lick of Shellac. The recess for the logo stamp was the finale part, in this picture it shows my first logo attempt. its now the known Wise Twig Owl design.
Cute but usable
This was the first pot with a friction fit lid I had created and I have to say it turned out rather well, even now after a good few months, the lid is still fitting perfectly. I put this down to the fact that I took my time with sizing, sanding and finishing, it really does make the difference. The grain match-up looks good too, the fact that it matches so well is due to the very thin cut I made to part the lid section from the rest of the blank. Overall I had fun with this one and the great thing is, it is very usable and feels a quality piece. I will definitely make another.