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.
Here are the splines glued up. I used three pieces of Ebony and two pieces of Holly for each spline.
I glued the staves up in two half-rings.
I then glued the two halves together and mounted on the lathe to turn the outside.
Next, I mounted it in my modified donut chuck to turn the inside. I need to get a better light!!!
Next, I added an Ebony ring to the top and turned a mortise to accept the top section.
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.
It ended up looking pretty good so I finished it up and turned a tenon on it and glued it to the main body .
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.
Here are the splines glued up. I used three pieces of Ebony and two pieces of Holly for each spline.
I glued the staves up in two half-rings.
I then glued the two halves together and mounted on the lathe to turn the outside.
Next, I mounted it in my modified donut chuck to turn the inside. I need to get a better light!!!
Next, I added an Ebony ring to the top and turned a mortise to accept the top section.
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.
It ended up looking pretty good so I finished it up and turned a tenon on it and glued it to the main body .
Frank
