# Segmented Turning: how thick are your segments?



## kweinert (Jun 22, 2017)

I have a little project in mind that can go a couple of ways. 

To that end I'd appreciate it if those of you who do segmented turnings (of whatever form - bowl, platter, vase, etc) would respond with how thick your segments are.

When I say thick I mean how thick a layer is - not how wide you cut the segments that will end up round.

I presume that some feature rings will be thicker than 'normal' and I don't think my project would work for those anyhow.

And yes, I'll post something up here on the project when I get a Round Toit and let you all see what's in my mind.

Thanks.


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## Tony (Jun 22, 2017)

@barry richardson


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## barry richardson (Jun 22, 2017)

I often base thickness of the rings on the wood I have available. I'm working on a tall vase now that has central rings of around 1.5 thick, and stepping down incrementally for the smaller rings to about 3/4 thick at the top and bottom. My reasoning is to keep the segments somewhat proportional in height and width. The downside of this is I have a lot of different ring thicknesses to sand, which means lots of adjustments to the sander to get em all done. Not sure if it is worth it, but I had lots of wood in different random thickness, and wanted to use it up. But of course as you know, the thicker the wood the less rings required, which is nice. I would like to try a piece one day with really thin rings, but what a lot of work

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodman6415 (Jun 22, 2017)

I buy 13/16 hard wood for my cabinet shop ... so I use only 13/16 thick pieces that are drop offs ..

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Steve Smith (Jul 12, 2017)

My suggestion is to scale the segments to the overall size of the turning. A smaller turning looks better with thinner rings and larger turnings look better with thicker rings.

When turning an average size bowl; i.e. 12" x 12" I'll use roughly 3/4" rings. Linearly scale it from there, though not necessarily at a 1:1 ratio.

The first piece used ~3/4 thick pieces and is roughly 13" tall. The second piece has 1-1/4" thick pieces and is roughly 22" tall.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 8 | Way Cool 1


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## kweinert (Jul 13, 2017)

Good advice. I was looking for what people use as an aid to help determine the size of an add-on jig for a table saw jig. The design kind of depends on how thick people usually make ring segments. I know I can't design for all possibilities but I'd like to be able to have the design accommodate 'standard' thicknesses.


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## Nature Man (Jul 13, 2017)

Those vases are museum quality! Wow, they are truly gorgeous! Chuck


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## Steve Smith (Jul 13, 2017)

@Nature Man Thanks. I only make them to satisfy my artistic side. I have no use for them so I give them away. I enjoy using a lot of exotic timbers and segmented turning is one of the best ways to show them.

Reactions: Like 1


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