As published in AAW by Lowell Converse, an OVWG member

A LOST WOOD PROCESS

When the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild (OVWG) has one of their semi-annual contests, the competitive spirit of many of the 130 members results in a significant outpouring of exceptional and unique entries. Contests in the past have included turnings made from 2" x 2" x 18" walnut, anything egg-shaped, any
kind of box, and anything under 2 inches, among others. Last year in the under 2 inches contest, I entered the small tulipwood lidded "pot" shown (photo 1). This piece was made by a process which has probably been used before, but which I have not seen anywhere in the literature. It's a method which I have dubbed the "lost wood process." Lost wood means you not only dispose of all the shavings, but you also throw away half, more or less, of the turning before final finishing. Inspiration for the process came from a demonstration to the OVWG by Michael Hosaluk. After seeing Michael make one of his well-known fish by removing a section from a basic hollow form, I wondered if one couldn't remove more than one section to get a four or six or more sided object. Michael's approach of sectioning by bandsawing the section out and then sanding each side and gluing them back together would work, but for more than two pieces it would be very difficult to keep the segments symmetrical. But if the pieces to be removed are put in beforeturning, and then removed after turning, and the remaining segments recombined, then symmetry would be built into the process. Thus the "lost wood" approach to making a multi-sided segmented piece.

As this is written, I have just finished a piece for our next contest. The contest is to make a vase. There are two categories, under 8" and over 8". Since I was fortunate enough to win last year with my little 2" lidded pot, I thought I would try the process on a larger piece. To make an 8" vase with a nominal 4 1/2" diameter, I started with the configuration shown (photo 2). The six pieces with the X's will be discarded after turning; they are 2 1/2" x 2" x 9" and for this project were from basswood, although any scrap wood will work. The other six triangular pieces, which will become the vase, are 2 1/4" curly maple ripped at 30 degreees (for a 60 degree corner) and then laminated on each of two sides with 1/8" thick walnut and a piece of birch veneer. The walnut and birch offer contrast, but not
surprisingly make the project more difficult. Without those pieces, a little disk sanding of the edgesmakes reassembly easier. With them, any sanding would destroy the symmetry.

It is important that the inside "point" of each triangular segment be identical, as when these are assembled with the rectangular pieces they define a circumference for centering the large piece on the faceplate. It is well worthwhile to preassemble the triangular segments dry to assure a good fit. Each segment should be numbered in a place the number will remain intact throughout the process. This is important for final assembly.
The trick to removing the lost wood is to assemble the pieces shown in the photo using double-sided tape between the rectangular and the triangular pieces. Where the segments come together on the inside and on the bottom must match up as accurately as possible. This relatively large segmented piece is then very carefully centered and mounted on a faceplate. I used a 3/4" plywood faceplate which would also be used as a jam chuck for reversing the piece to turn the bottom.
During rough turning, although the double-sided tape might be enough, two hose clamps were used to make sure nothing came apart. Once the rough outside profile was finished, moving the hose clamps as required, the clamps were removed and fiberglass reinforced tape or shrink wrap were used as safety reinforcement. The final outside profile was then completed. It is very helpful during this process to have a drawing of the vase profile as reference as the turned piece can be a bit deceiving.

After completing the outside profile, turn the inside to the desired thickness, in this case 1/4". One nice thing is there is plenty of room to get at the inside; most of this piece was done with a 1/2' spindle gouge. Now finish sand the outside and inside--the inside of the vase will have the same quality finish as the outside. On this vase I used thinned lacquer as sanding sealer and
sanded to 600 grit.
The piece can now
be parted off and reversed into a jam chuck made from the plywood faceplate. It can be clamped as shown (photo 3), or hindsight tells me screws through the lost wood would work as well. Once the bottom is turned, remove the piece and carefully pull apart the double-sided tape joints. If all went well the six segments should fit together nicely.. What you will then have will be the scrap piece from the bottom, an almost finished vase, and the lost wood shown (photo 4). The practice assembly in the photo is held together by the remaining double-sided tape.

Before gluing the six segments together, I carved the top of each segment in the manner shown on the finished piece and also finished the inside of each segment, in this case by polishing the wood. Next, glue two sets of two adjoining segments together. Here's how Michael Hosaluk does it: some yellow glue on each edge, rub them together to assure a uniform joint, then hold them together
tightly till you're comfortable the joint is good (1-3 minutes.) When this joint is cured, add the third segment to each of the two pieces (watch the numbers!) and let dry. Make sure to clean off all the glue squeeze-out, especially on the inside. When dry the two 3 segment sides can be joined the same way, although a little clamping force may be helpful here. Small discontinuities in the joints
of the finished piece can be cleaned up with sand paper before final finishing. (Note: If made without the accent wood, the two sides can be sanded on a disk sander to get a perfect glue joint.) The outside of this vase was finished the same as the inside,i.e., thinned lacquer sanding sealer, hand sanded to 600 grit and polished.

For this vase, a final detail. If accent pieces are used, there will be a small six-sided hole in the bottom of the vase. A small turned plug for the both outside and inside to fill this hole adds a finished touch to the bottom. The vase turned out to be 8 1/8" tall, so will compete in the over 8" category
(photo5). The competition is fierce, and even if this little vase doesn't beat out any of the bigger ones, it was still a lot of fun, and quite a challenge to make.

Lowell Converse is from
Beavercreek, Ohio (outside of Dayton). He is
retired from the US Air Force and currently represents an aircraft engine
manufacturer. He has been turning seriously a little over two years. Some of his work can be found at the

Village Artisans in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He welcomes any inquiries at laconverse@earthlink.com

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