What did you make today?

[footfootfoot]

Here is the finished proto-type. The compare photos are from different angles so that changes the look of the piece somewhat so I added pointing fingers to indicate the places I made changes.

So far it has one very thin coat of Watco (25% Watco 75% turps) I am thinking about what kind of finish I'd like to put on it, if I want to stain it or do something else.

I wanted to make the transitions crisper, that is a hallmark of a hand turned piece made with gouges and chisels; the finish they leave behind is smoother than sandpaper which softens or obliterates fine details. (Full disclosure: I did sand a few spots because I'm out of practice and my tools aren't sharpened as well as they can be and that led to a couple of lumpy spots on the vases.)

Standard candle bases are 7/8" unless they are from China where they use metric sizes making your candlesticks too big. I didn't have any inserts on hand ($0.07 ea) so I cut a 3/4" copper pipe connector (7/8" ID, <1" OD) annealed it, upset one end so it would fit snugly, and flared the other end, re-annealed it and peened it over the top of the candlestick.

When I make the mate I'm going to change the order of some of the steps to make it more efficient. Making the metal insert cost a lot more than seven cents in materials and a crazy amount of time. If I make more of these I'm buying inserts.

I also need to build a proper sharpening jig for my gouges. The shape is very complicates and despite a lot of practice my results are inconsistent and costly in terms of unnecessary wear on the tools. I bought mine over 20 years ago and nearly crapped when I saw how much they cost today.