Segmented Wallstreet II

[tbfoto]

I have been amazed at some of the segmented work I see on here. To me it is a way of taking plain looking wood and creating something much more appealing out of it. I have been wanting to step up my game and do more elaborate designs. I have a very hard time however looking at a finished design and figuring out how it was glued up to achieve the finished results. For this pen I simply took some very plain walnut and maple strips and glued them together then cut and flipped every other section and re-glued. I got things lined up pretty good but for some reason could not visualize how it would turn out. It's a start and it has helped me "see" how to get better at this.

 

[mark james]

Very nice Tom.

The "cut and flip" is well accepted for many designs. What you ended up with was excellent.

Now... Consider shorter segments . Vary your thicknesses . Vary the wood type numbers (i.e., 2 to 3, 4 ,5 + types of wood - Maple, Walnut, Padauk, Cherry, Wenge). Now have some fun!

The basic process you used is easily applicable to more elaborate designs without major changes in your technique. With what you have done, a few design modifications will yield many, many different combinations with little struggle.

Have FUN!

Thank you for sharing!

 

[tbfoto]

Thank's Mark. I have more of this same blank left over so I plan to cut it up more and indeed shorten the segments


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[tbfoto]

Very nice Tom.

The "cut and flip" is well accepted for many designs. What you ended up with was excellent.

Now... Consider shorter segments .

So, I took Mark's suggestion and continued to cut, flip and re-glue until I had much smaller segments. I was pretty excited about the look of my finished blank however I suppose I wouldn't learn anything if it had turned perfectly too. Put it on the lathe tonight and...... EPIC FAIL .
I'm not real sure why it turned out like this. It looks like I drilled straight as the lines seem to be straight however the segments are not equal all the way around the blank. I'm going to have to study this one some more to understand what happened. If you have a suggestion....I would love to hear it. As it stands now...this is not a keeper.
Mark...thank you for the "push" to experiment more. I'll get better at this I hope.

 

[mark james]

Very nice Tom.

The "cut and flip" is well accepted for many designs. What you ended up with was excellent.

Now... Consider shorter segments .

So, I took Mark's suggestion and continued to cut, flip and re-glue until I had much smaller segments. I was pretty excited about the look of my finished blank however I suppose I wouldn't learn anything if it had turned perfectly too. Put it on the lathe tonight and...... EPIC FAIL .
I'm not real sure why it turned out like this. It looks like I drilled straight as the lines seem to be straight however the segments are not equal all the way around the blank. I'm going to have to study this one some more to understand what happened. If you have a suggestion....I would love to hear it. As it stands now...this is not a keeper.
Mark...thank you for the "push" to experiment more. I'll get better at this I hope.

Keep it FUN Tom, as you are going down a deep, but enjoyable "Rabbit-Hole."

The third picture from the left looks well formed, except the right side is already indicating a slight taper in the blank? Not sure if this mattered or not.

For the final pattern/design to have similar squares, your end-blank center point is crucial. Not the sides, the ends of the blanks. I am not sure if you did this and I am out of line, but consider the ends rather than the sides.

Most importantly, save this, write notes, you may be 80% where you want to be, next time 88%, then 94%... I (you) learn much from our failures. When we get to 95% success, we still view it as "Not perfect", but others will look at it and say... "What error, give it to me!"

I usually get through 3-4 trials before I get to a "Low quality acceptable" segmented blank.

Last random thought; If the turned segments were not equal as planned, the hole was not drilled straight, or the segments were not equal on all sides in the glue-up. Other with more segmenting experience will hopefully offer an opinion.

But, every failure will get you closer to what you envision!

Well done!

 

[mark james]

Further thoughts...

If you misalign the center on the end of the blank, and know it is off - fill the hole with CA, let set, and center it again; you can correct misplacements if you know in advance to final turning that it is off center.

Do you use a collet chuck (Beall, etc..) to drill your holes? I found that after I located/prerecessed my end-of-blank center holes, and then turned the segmented/inlayed blank down to about 3/4" (whatever fit into the collet chuck). I can then place the rounded blank in a collet chuck and drill my tube hole with good precision. I drill a starter hole with a centering bit, then the final tube size bit. This helps to avoid a taper with the blank centering. If the inlay, segmenting is off, well then, that is a different kettle of fish!

 

[Terredax]

Just my opinion, but looking at the glued up blank, it appears from the photo, that the segments are off slightly. Looking at the checker pattern, there are gaps between the squares in some spots and the gaps vary a little.
That could easily cause what you are experiencing.

My opinion is only based off of the isometric photo, and that makes it harder to assess definitively.

 

[mark james]

Just my opinion, but looking at the glued up blank, it appears from the photo, that the segments are off slightly. Looking at the checker pattern, there are gaps between the squares in some spots and the gaps vary a little.
That could easily cause what you are experiencing.

My opinion is only based off of the isometric photo, and that makes it harder to assess definitively.

I would agree. If you look at the fourth initial picture - the segmented blank. From the right side, there is a noticable expansion from the top left to the bottom right pattern on the right end. This is enough of a small error to give the final tapering... I Think!

May be easily correctable.

 

[tbfoto]

My blank was not a perfect square before drilling but since all segments were of the same size I didn't think it would matter where within the blank I drilled as long as I drilled it straight. In fact, one end of the blank had a small flaw so I intentionally drilled more to one side of the blank to avoid that flaw. I did drill a starter hole.
I appreciate the feedback an did indeed post my failure so that I could learn from it.
I'm not giving up. I've started building another blank. I'm going to plan this out more carefully and apply what I have learned.


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[mark james]

My blank was not a perfect square before drilling but since all segments were of the same size I didn't think it would matter where within the blank I drilled as long as I drilled it straight. In fact, one end of the blank had a small flaw so I intentionally drilled more to one side of the blank to avoid that flaw. I did drill a starter hole.
I appreciate the feedback an did indeed post my failure so that I could learn from it.
I'm not giving up. I've started building another blank. I'm going to plan this out more carefully and apply what I have learned.


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The outside sides of the blank are not important to be even (you will turn the rough edges off). The pattern will end up within 1 mm of center outside of the tube, the center is what is important. If the center, just proud of the tube, is centered, you are OK (or close!).

Again, have FUN!