• Beware of Counterfeit Woodturning Tools (click here for details)
  • Johnathan Silwones is starting a new AAW chapter, Southern Alleghenies Woodturners, in Johnstown, PA. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Keven Jesequel for "Big Leaf Maple" being selected as Turning of the Week for April 15, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Turning a seed jar - split hollow form

hockenbery

Forum MVP
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Apr 27, 2004
Messages
8,629
Likes
4,969
Location
Lakeland, Florida
Website
www.hockenberywoodturning.com
I turned one of these for after dinner entertainment at SWAT-2017 along with Trent Bosch. Trent turned a traditional hollow form in an informal race and finished first. A fun time. Since then I have done several of these in club demos and also did a club workshop where students turned them.

Could be a great addition to your turning repertoire - a form pleasant to hold and one that amazes folks with its small opening.

The Anasazi used ceramic seed jars with small holes that let seeds in and kept mice out.
Usually the were painted and modern day Pueblo artists are keeping the forms alive.

These are done as a split hollow forms which have become fairly ubiquitous. I don’t know who developed the idea Clay Foster was teaching the split hollow forms in the early 90s and around 2000 I saw Lyle Jamieson turn a split seed pot form.

These are great uses for wood too small for a bowl and easily turned on mini lathes.
These forms show off the grain of nice wood and lend themselves to being canvasses for sand carving, pyrography. They would be a manageable form for a basket illusion.
For less experienced turners it is a chance to turn a hollow form, two bowls, and a box all in one project.

Wood – dried wood is best. Plain wood can be embellished great wood stands on its own
Kiln dried Polar is used in the demo an is readily available at lumber yards.
Blanks 7-8 diameter 3-5” thick cut so each blank is 1.5-2.5” thick – you can take liberty with size.
Tools I use – Ellsworth ground bowl gouge, 3/8 spindle gouge, ¼ bowl gouge Michelson grind, square edge scraper, point(pyramid) tool.

Red gum Eucalyptus – wood shows itself off
67DB011B-553C-49A1-B133-164AE40062F9.jpeg

This is a camphor form - inspiration from a 2” pot by Rachel Concho
Sand carved, airbrushed
19B6329A-D0B0-4ED6-93BD-3A94ECCB2ED0.jpeg EFDB0151-C84F-40F6-BD54-533227ED6E6A.jpeg

Poplar – sand carved, black leather dye.
5418842B-AC8C-46BC-85EC-5F8D355882B4.jpeg

Video of demo for Tri County Woodturners, January 2018
View: https://youtu.be/i-odbgyJvrQ
 
Last edited:
Back
Top