# Building a Segmented Turning



## barry richardson (May 23, 2017)

Gonna try and keep up with some pics as I make this, and explain my process. Designwise this one is going to be pretty simple. Using African Mahogany here. Started out milling stock about 1.5" wide and a little over 1/2" thick. Ideally I like the stock to be thicker than that, but this wood came from molding so not very thick. You can find lots of info on line to design segmented turnings, and they sell programs for it. I,'ve made enough of them that by this point, I can get away without much of a plan other than what I want the general shape to be. I use my cabinet saw, but you can use a chop saw, just make sure your settings are accurate and use a good sharp blade. and a zero clearance back-fence for it, or the chopsaw will eat up the little segments....
I like 12 segment rings, so I made a little jig to cut accurate segments at 15 degrees, just clamped it on my crosscut sled.



note the piece of blue tape, I found it took 1 thickness to get it dialed in just right. My shape will be big in the middle, and tapering equally above and below. Started out making the largest center ring segments first, When I want to cut the next 2 smaller rings (one for above the equator, one for below), I shortened the segment by moving my pencil mark over (about 3/16 in this case) and cutting for the next ring, and so on.



kept cutting till I ran out of prepared stock. I use the rub method for gluing the segments, put a thin coat of glue on the end of a segment, rub it against another, and it sticks like magic. I used to clamp the rings with straps, but like this method much better, and it's never failed me. I glue 3 segments together at a time, then glue 2 triplets together to make a half ring;



Gluebots are great for this BTW.



all glued into half circles, nothing instructional here, just thought it looked kinda cool....
Next I set half of them up in the order I intend to glue the rings. I wanted to see if I liked the shape while I was still in the ring making mode;



I ended up making two more rings after this pic, and inserting them near the middle to stretch out the shape a little
Next phase is gluing the halves together, but I have some traveling to do so it will be a few days, stay tuned!

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 10 | Informative 1


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## Lou Currier (May 23, 2017)




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## ripjack13 (May 23, 2017)




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## woodtickgreg (May 23, 2017)

Title? What's a truning? lol

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Lou Currier (May 23, 2017)

woodtickgreg said:


> Title? What's a truning? lol



That's a new word for pruning wood on a lathe

Reactions: Funny 6


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## barry richardson (May 23, 2017)

woodtickgreg said:


> Title? What's a truning? lol


I'm getting seriously dyslexic in my old age...... true story, gotta carefully proofread everything, that one slipped by me and spellcheck

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Tony (May 23, 2017)

I impatiently wait until my turning skills get to the point where I can try one of these. With my cutting boards, it seems like a natural progression for me. Thanks for doing this Barry! Tony

Reactions: Agree 3


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## barry richardson (May 23, 2017)

Tony said:


> I impatiently wait until my turning skills get to the point where I can try one of these. With my cutting boards, it seems like a natural progression for me. Thanks for doing this Barry! Tony


Tony I assure you, you already have the skills, it is little different than making a cutting board really, and the turning is a breeze. I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you try one lol. Try one with just a few rings, the turning part is a breeze...

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 3


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## Tony (May 23, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> Tony I assure you, you already have the skills, it is little different than making a cutting board really, and the turning is a breeze. I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you try one lol. Try one with just a few rings, the turning part is a breeze...



Barry, please don't misunderstand. I didn't mean to imply that the skill set is similiar. Hell, any 10 year old can build cutting boards like mine. I meant visually it's a natural progression, people are used to seeing the multi species look in my work. Tony


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## rocky1 (May 24, 2017)

Build a multi-species set of bowls to go with the cutting boards, and see how fast they both sell.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## barry richardson (May 24, 2017)

Tony said:


> Barry, please don't misunderstand. I didn't mean to imply that the skill set is similiar. Hell, any 10 year old can build cutting boards like mine. I meant visually it's a natural progression, people are used to seeing the multi species look in my work. Tony


But i'm saying the skill set IS similar! start basic, run through the process a few times and you will be up and running

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Funny 5


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## barry richardson (May 24, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> I'm getting seriously dyslexic in my old age...... true story, gotta carefully proofread everything, that one slipped by me and spellcheck


Now I don't feel so bad....

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 7


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## The100road (May 24, 2017)

This is gonna be a good one.


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## rocky1 (May 25, 2017)

Tony's just afraid of how many little bitty pieces he's going to have to cut up to get a picture of Texas on the side of a cereal bowl!!

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 3


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## Tony (May 25, 2017)

rocky1 said:


> Tony's just afraid of how many little bitty pieces he's going to have to cut up to get a picture of Texas on the side of a cereal bowl!!



That's funny Rocky because actually I was thinking of doing one with woods to match a Texas board and insetting a Texas cutout in the bottom!

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## barry richardson (May 30, 2017)

Back at it... today I squared up my half-rings for a tight glue up. the glue faces of the 2 half-rings are always going to be a little out of whack, so you need to make them coplanar. I use the table saw, but a disc sander can be used, the size of the disc determines how big of a ring you can square-up though. This is my set-up, cross-cut sled, some sandpaper stuck down so the piece wont move, and a hold-down to press on the half-ring as you shave it square with the table saw. 


 

Once the two sides are square, I once again use the rub method to glue them together. now the rings are ready to be sanded flat. If I had a drum sander like @Tony I could drive on, but I will have to take them to the Luke AFB hobby shop and use their wide belt sander in the next day or 2. You can also sand them flat with a disc sander, or a sanding disc you can make for use with your lathe, will have to show pics of that later, but a drum or wide belt sander is quicker/easier.
ready to be sanded;


 
BTW, feel free to ask questions, I'm just hitting the high points...

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## Tony (May 31, 2017)

Barry, I follow this with great interest. I'm under the weather right know, but as soon as I can I will follow your lead and try one. Nowhere near as big or intricate as yours, but I've got an idea to tie one in with a cutting board to follow Rockys suggestion. Tony

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## larry C (May 31, 2017)

Tony said:


> Barry, I follow this with great interest. I'm under the weather right know, but as soon as I can I will follow your lead and try one. Nowhere near as big or intricate as yours, but I've got an idea to tie one in with a cutting board to follow Rockys suggestion. Tony




@Tony, there's no better therapy than making sawdust in your shop.....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (May 31, 2017)

How big is it?
Are you going to glue half together, and turn the insides first?


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## barry richardson (May 31, 2017)

ripjack13 said:


> How big is it?
> Are you going to glue half together, and turn the insides first?


The biggest rings are about a foot, and it will end up 16-18 tall, depending on how much I have to sand the rings down to flatten them. And you are correct sir, I will turn it in two pieces, then mate em up at the equator....

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## kweinert (Jun 1, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> I will turn it in two pieces, then mate em up at the equator....



It's much easier that way unless you have a completely open bowl. Since I have forgotten to do that (even on a fairly open bowl but it does curve back in towards the top) I have reminded myself that I need to turn in two halves and then mate.

Unfortunately I've had to remind myself of that more than once. *sigh*

Since I now have 4 of those bowls to do I'm hoping that that 'turn the insides first' gets stuck in my mind :)

Nice tutorial so far.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Jun 2, 2017)

Segmented turning is fun I just wish I had the design/creativity to make some cool feature rings, haven't tried that before. Barry, should make a wedgie sled, save some time with not having to glue the rings in half. In case you haven't heard of it before, it works wonders. http://www.segeasy.com/wedgies.htm


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## barry richardson (Jun 2, 2017)

Thanks Joe, I have seen some tutorials on fancy feature rings somewhere out there. Yea I'm familiar with the sled you mention, If I did a lot of segment stuff, like I used to, I might make one, but since I already have more jigs for various things than I can store, I do it as described above, it is totally foolproof.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Jun 2, 2017)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have too many jigs, and then it seems when I need to use one I find that the damn thing has warped since the previous time which is pretty annoying.

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## barry richardson (Jun 2, 2017)

Used the wide belt sander to flatten the rings, but the platen was beat up so had to finish getting them perfectly flat with my homemade disc sander; 
double thickness of MDF with a disc attached to the back to grab it with a chuck. Made it several years ago, still running true. 


 
Made a couple of these for gluing to the smallest ring, with a dovetail to fit my chuck, you can attach faceplates too, but I don't have 2 spare ones I want to tie up. I will be mounting, and remounting quite a few times. 


 
time to stack and glue, I like to do 3 or 4 rings at a time, then true-up, it is easy to drift off center if you try to glue them all at the same time. I also believe you get a better bond between rings when you do a few at a time. 


 
weights are my method of choice for applying pressure to the glue-ups, might as well use them for something lol.
turned to the general shape; and more rings added;


 
and so on..... it's very hot n dry here, so a couple of hours is more than enough here for glue time....

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## barry richardson (Jun 4, 2017)

The two halves are turned and ready for marriage...


 
like so...


 
left the sides a little thick so I have enough material to refine the shape on the outside....

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## Tony (Jun 4, 2017)

Do you do any more work on the inside now Barry? Tony


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## kweinert (Jun 4, 2017)

I would say for a shape like this it's not likely.

If the opening is large enough to stick a hand in then you might want to smooth the inner side of the joint.

You might also want to apply any finish you deem necessary to the inside prior to joining the two halves even if it's only the top 3 or 4 inches that someone would be able to reach.

These are, of course, my observations and Barry may (and probably does) have different thoughts.

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## barry richardson (Jun 4, 2017)

What Ken said, the opening is going to be pretty small, and the inside is pretty smooth now with a scraper. That's one of the nice things about segmented turning, all the grain runs the same way, no end grain, so it turns like butter. I havent decided if I will finish the inside, but if I do, I will just pour finish inside, slosh er around, then drain the excess...

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## barry richardson (Jun 5, 2017)

Got the whole thing on the lathe and mounted between centers, smoothed it up and decided to add some bling to the top,(wenge) used the tailstock to clamp them while the glue set...


 
after I got that turned down, I parted it just above the bottom segment, then cut a recess in the bottom ring to accept a captive disc to make the bottom ( laying on top the chuck) then glued it back together and smoothed and sanded everything.


 
Ready for finishing; about 12"x18". will post a pic when I get that done...

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 7


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## ripjack13 (Jun 5, 2017)

Woah....that is just fantastic Barry!!!! Nicely done!!!!

























What color are you going to paint it?

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## woodtickgreg (Jun 6, 2017)

That's a bugging! Very cool!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mike Hill (Jun 6, 2017)

That is total cool! 
Although I was getting worried there for a while with the talk about a wedgie and a sled! Sounded uncomfortable at best and more likely painful.

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## kweinert (Jun 6, 2017)

I got a wedgie on a sled once. Hit a stump that was under the snow. And it's just about as much fun as it sounds.

Reactions: Funny 4


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## Tony (Jun 6, 2017)

kweinert said:


> I got a wedgie on a sled once. Hit a stump that was under the snow. And it's just about as much fun as it sounds.



That's what you get when you live where that white poison is!!

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## Gixxerjoe04 (Jun 6, 2017)

Looks awesome, now where is the pic with finish on it? haha. You say it 12x18" but from that last pic i would have guessed a lot bigger, pics can be deceiving haha. Make me want to go get started on one for fun.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Jun 6, 2017)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> Looks awesome, now where is the pic with finish on it? haha. You say it 12x18" but from that last pic i would have guessed a lot bigger, pics can be deceiving haha. Make me want to go get started on one for fun.


Coming soon! Someday I plan to make one as big as my lathe will allow,....... someday......... lol

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## barry richardson (Jun 14, 2017)

Finished pic, mahogany has great chatoyance, it looks like gem facets when you rotate it.... Lacquer rubbed with steel wool for a soft shine....

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## Tony (Jun 14, 2017)

Just gorgeous Barry, thank you for doing this thread!

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## Mike Hill (Jun 15, 2017)

Stupendous. That dovetailed rim really draws my attention.

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## woodtickgreg (Jun 15, 2017)

Very nice.


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