Can this be turned on a lathe

[Dan Pinvidic]

My wife found this. Is this something can can be turned with some kind of off-center set-upafter the basic tree is turned?

 

[Jon Rista]

You could off-center for the whole job, or after initial turning of each tier of the tree. Dead center it, rough round. If you need to, you could start turning each tier dead centered, but its not always necessary. Then you start offsetting back and forth, usually from pre-marked points at the top end, although sometimes both ends, to turn each tier of tree at the angles you want. There are some good videos YT showing a few different processes for making trees like this. Some more extreme than others. You don't necessarily even need an off-center chuck either, it can often just be done between centers.

EDIT:

There appears to be some amount of "flourish" in some of the tiers of that tree. That might take a secondary slight adjustment in the off-centered points you are turning at for that tier after the initial tier shape is done, to get the additional flourish. Or you might need to do that with some carving after the fact. I wonder if the one pictured, may have been done with a CNC, that second from the top has some interesting curvatures to it that I'm not sure are 100% lathe-born.

EDIT:

So my own trees were actually called "leaning trees"...they actually were not strait up as this one is. To get a tree strait like this, but with the angles in the rims of each tier, you would probably have to get pretty inventive with how you chuck. Likely requiring some kind of jamb chuking. You would have to get the rotation along angle you want each tier at, which would mean taking the ends of the blank out of centers, and finding some way to clamp between some kind of jambs, likely on either side. I've never actually done that, but thinking about it, it might be a use case for hot glue. Whatever you do, though, just using a set of offset points at the ends of the blank are likely not going to be enough. The angles of the rim of each tier here, are likely to require the top and bottom to be angled entirely out of either center ranges or even a chuck's range. I think it can definitely be done, but, its likely to require getting rather clever with how you chuck it up for each tier. A key challenge, would be avoiding digging into the lower tier's upper regions...that would require some fairly precise centering of the off-kiltered piece, for each tier...

 

[Dan Pinvidic]

Thanks Jon for explainging some of the details.....I might give it a shot to see how it goes....

 

[Brian Gustin]

I'm pretty sure that's a CNC project unless the guy has hours of carving invested into it, and judging by it seeming to be a "commercial" product , by the photo, I'd say not, so CNC it is...

 

[Webb Willmott]

I don’t think it carved or CNC.

It looks like several cones were turned, the large end cut at an angle, and then stacked on each other. Start at the base and turn a cone. Next level, turn the inside first and fit to the base. Then turn the outside part of the cone. Cut the skirt of the cone. Repeat for as many sections wanted.

Then glue the cones together.

 

[Dan Pinvidic]

Thanks guys, this input is helpfull. After hearing your thoughts, and looking at the piece more closley, the one odd thing is that little rise in the rim of the second cone from the top.
But hearing your suggestions, I think I will try to turn a basic tree with 4 cones, and then use different offsets for each cone to trim the bottoms. I might be able to get fairly close....AND I might learn something

 

[Webb Willmott]

It didn’t happen without pictures.

Also the bottom of one isn’t flat which makes me think it was cut on a bandsaw and then sanded to get the bevel. Probably a lot easier and safer than a second turning an offset.

You’ll know if the stack concept works after the first cone!

 

[Jon Rista]

Thanks guys, this input is helpfull. After hearing your thoughts, and looking at the piece more closley, the one odd thing is that little rise in the rim of the second cone from the top.
But hearing your suggestions, I think I will try to turn a basic tree with 4 cones, and then use different offsets for each cone to trim the bottoms. I might be able to get fairly close....AND I might learn something

Yeah, that extra flourish in the curvature of one down from the top...I am not sure if that could just be purely turned. Its possible it is separate cones cut on a bandsaw stacked on top of each other. There are ways you could do that, turn the cones out of a single piece of wood, connected like a normal christmas tree. You probably want to make the top of each cone pretty narrow, so that when you cut each tier with the desired curvature and then tune them to fit, you get the right thickness at the top of each tier where it will meet the next. Flip it around somehow, so that you can drill a small hole through from the bottom (something that maybe could fit a small dowel). Flip it around again, part each cone off top to bottom. Cut the angles and curvatures with the bandsaw (both the bottom of the upper and top of the lower, so they match) and then connect them all along the same central axis again using that hole and a dowel.

I am not sure that is how the item you pictured was done. The seam between the lower and upper parts at each tier, is just too clean, IMO. If you worked real slow, carefully, meticulously and precisely...I'd say anything could be done, but maybe more work than it would generally be worth?

 

[Mike Selser]

Thanks guys, this input is helpfull. After hearing your thoughts, and looking at the piece more closley, the one odd thing is that little rise in the rim of the second cone from the top.
But hearing your suggestions, I think I will try to turn a basic tree with 4 cones, and then use different offsets for each cone to trim the bottoms. I might be able to get fairly close....AND I might learn something

I don’t see any evidence of offset turning. Turn a standard 4 cone tree then drill an alignment hole in the center from the bottom up to where the top cut is made. Make the bottom angled cut then finish turning the bottom profile up to the cut. Glue back together make the next cut, rinse and repeat.