The latest American Woodturner came and I got my wish. Thank you, Michael Anderson!
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Turning hearts
- Thread starter Dean Center
- Start date
I just read the article, Mike did a very good job with photography and writing.
Thanks Dean! I hope you like it—looking forward to seeing your version!
Well, Valentine's Day is coming up, Everyone.
Looking good Pat!!! That’s going to be a beauty.
Hi Pat,
I got side tracked looking at your lathe. Looks like some sort of indexing setup with the bicycle type chain arrangement and the lower drive sprocket. Can you show some pictures of the lathe? It doesn't look like the typical lathe we see on the forum.
Well, OK, if we're going to drop our drawers, so to speak...
This is an alder heart that is my prototype (attached to my vacuum chuck, with the second face just sanded).
In the past, I would throw a nice chunk of wood on the lathe and assume I would be able to produce the desired new project the very first time. Wrong. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned in my turning journey is that doing a couple of practice pieces with a new project allows me to learn where the challenging parts will be, fill in any gaps in the instructions, and get my work flow down, which may be a little different than the originator of the project. THEN, mount the nice wood and make one.
Michael's heart instructions were spot on, easy to follow, and I didn't find any gaps. I did learn that it's critical to sand the 'bowl' at the top of the heart right after it's turned and still chucked up. It's surprisingly hard to hand sand end grain down in a little depression. Another lesson I learned is that it's helpful to make pencil marks indicating the central circumference, like when turning a bead, so the front and back of the heart are equal and have the same curve. This isn't a necessary quality, and others might like some asymmetry, but I wanted it equal. One modification I made was to allow a little extra wood at the end of the blank where the point will be to use for making a tenon to chuck.
I've been wanting to turn a heart for a very long time and Michael's instructions allowed me to do it. Thank you, Michael! Now where did I put the nice square 6" blanks???
This is an alder heart that is my prototype (attached to my vacuum chuck, with the second face just sanded).
In the past, I would throw a nice chunk of wood on the lathe and assume I would be able to produce the desired new project the very first time. Wrong. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned in my turning journey is that doing a couple of practice pieces with a new project allows me to learn where the challenging parts will be, fill in any gaps in the instructions, and get my work flow down, which may be a little different than the originator of the project. THEN, mount the nice wood and make one.
Michael's heart instructions were spot on, easy to follow, and I didn't find any gaps. I did learn that it's critical to sand the 'bowl' at the top of the heart right after it's turned and still chucked up. It's surprisingly hard to hand sand end grain down in a little depression. Another lesson I learned is that it's helpful to make pencil marks indicating the central circumference, like when turning a bead, so the front and back of the heart are equal and have the same curve. This isn't a necessary quality, and others might like some asymmetry, but I wanted it equal. One modification I made was to allow a little extra wood at the end of the blank where the point will be to use for making a tenon to chuck.
I've been wanting to turn a heart for a very long time and Michael's instructions allowed me to do it. Thank you, Michael! Now where did I put the nice square 6" blanks???
These are great, Pat and Dean. Makes me smile to more hearts being turned! Thanks for sharing (and thanks for your insights Dean!). Good stuff fellas 
Korean Evodia, a bit open-grained, but I like the ‘texture’ which that provides. I’ll get some dried flowers from the yard to put in it before Karen gets back from California on the 12th. Explanation for the names:
Karen
and
Patty
When our 39 year old was all of three years old, she was teasing me endlessly by calling me “Patty” rather than dad. Those not in the family who heard her with her lispy little three-yr-old voice were sure she was saying Paddy (and I am half Irish!).
It stuck, and all these years later Karen and those close to me still call me Patty.
Together 37 years now, though we met in a Physics lecture class at university 48 years ago.
Thanks again Mike for the inspiration!
Karen
and
Patty
When our 39 year old was all of three years old, she was teasing me endlessly by calling me “Patty” rather than dad. Those not in the family who heard her with her lispy little three-yr-old voice were sure she was saying Paddy (and I am half Irish!).
It stuck, and all these years later Karen and those close to me still call me Patty.
Together 37 years now, though we met in a Physics lecture class at university 48 years ago.
Thanks again Mike for the inspiration!
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Here's my take on it - Because I wanted to make a Valentines day present for my significant other, I went with the heart project from a piece of walnut slab I had (almost 3 inch thick) , and rather than just a heart, I decided to make a flower vase with an arrangement of silk flowers she could have and enjoy year around. Base is turned from a bit of Ash, and finished with wipe on poly. 
Those hearts are great, Pat and Brian! Love it.
Pat, that was a great story. I’m sure it’s the type of memory that makes you tear up a bit if you stew on for too long.
Brian, the walnut looks good. Did you use a glass insert in your heart?
Pat, that was a great story. I’m sure it’s the type of memory that makes you tear up a bit if you stew on for too long.
Brian, the walnut looks good. Did you use a glass insert in your heart?
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2021
- Messages
- 1,597
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- 1,399
- Location
- Roulette, PA
- Website
- www.reallyruralwoodworks.com
Nope - Just drilled down in steps to make a sort of taper inside past the gouge work so I didn't have to try any deep hollowing (Wasn't trusting myself to try - I'd been having "one of those days", so..) - Whole plan was to use Silk flowers, so I didn't bother with an insert... Got the bouquet on Amazon and did my own arranging after snipping the ends to where they fit nicely.