I lost my only brother two days after Thanksgiving last year. He had several health issues over the years including colon cancer twice and and about ten years ago contracted a rare muscle disease called Inclusion Body Myositis that eventually put him in a wheelchair. For most of his life (he was 73 when he passed) he was a big game hunter and used to spend a couple of months every year in Wyoming Elk hunting. He was my best friend and was the one who first introduced me to woodworking.
A couple of weeks before he passed he was hospitalized with abdominal pains. The doctors never determined the exact cause but they were pretty sure his colon cancer had returned. I think he knew this was the end and he told me he wanted me to make his Urn.
I don't care much for the standard short squatty Urn designs so I made it more in the shape of a large vase. I decided to do a staved vessel design and made the main body from Curly Maple with Ebony and Holly "splines" and used a Cherry Burl for the top section.
Here's a picture of the Curly Maple staves and the stock for the Ebony and Holly splines. The second set of staves are Red Terara I plan on using for a second vessel.
[attachment=50533]
Here are the splines glued up. I used three pieces of Ebony and two pieces of Holly for each spline.
[attachment=50534]
I glued the staves up in two half-rings.
[attachment=50535]
I then glued the two halves together and mounted on the lathe to turn the outside.
[attachment=50536]
[attachment=50537]
Next, I mounted it in my modified donut chuck to turn the inside. I need to get a better light!!!
[attachment=50538]
Next, I added an Ebony ring to the top and turned a mortise to accept the top section.
[attachment=50539]
Then I started working on the Cherry Burl for the top and discovered it had a big bark inclusion in the middle. I started to trash it and do something else but decided to fill it with black CA glue and continue turning it to see how it turned out.
[attachment=50540]
It ended up looking pretty good so I finished it up and turned a tenon on it and glued it to the main body .
[attachment=50541]
[attachment=50542]
A couple of weeks before he passed he was hospitalized with abdominal pains. The doctors never determined the exact cause but they were pretty sure his colon cancer had returned. I think he knew this was the end and he told me he wanted me to make his Urn.
I don't care much for the standard short squatty Urn designs so I made it more in the shape of a large vase. I decided to do a staved vessel design and made the main body from Curly Maple with Ebony and Holly "splines" and used a Cherry Burl for the top section.
Here's a picture of the Curly Maple staves and the stock for the Ebony and Holly splines. The second set of staves are Red Terara I plan on using for a second vessel.
[attachment=50533]
Here are the splines glued up. I used three pieces of Ebony and two pieces of Holly for each spline.
[attachment=50534]
I glued the staves up in two half-rings.
[attachment=50535]
I then glued the two halves together and mounted on the lathe to turn the outside.
[attachment=50536]
[attachment=50537]
Next, I mounted it in my modified donut chuck to turn the inside. I need to get a better light!!!
[attachment=50538]
Next, I added an Ebony ring to the top and turned a mortise to accept the top section.
[attachment=50539]
Then I started working on the Cherry Burl for the top and discovered it had a big bark inclusion in the middle. I started to trash it and do something else but decided to fill it with black CA glue and continue turning it to see how it turned out.
[attachment=50540]
It ended up looking pretty good so I finished it up and turned a tenon on it and glued it to the main body .
[attachment=50541]
[attachment=50542]
Frank
