The Dowel-it and the Domino, together at last.(My latest piece)

[Bill Wyko]

The idea origonally was to do this with a Dowl-it. Then the Festool Vortex got a stronger grip on me. I was at a stop light and it was decision time. Do I turn around and go back to work, or do I pull in to Woodworkers Source and buy the Domino. The light turned green(Festool Green ;D) and I pulled in to Woodworkers. In this turning, I show the turmoil I was experiencing by doing the bottom feature ring with the origonal idea, the dowl, then the Domino idea took over then suddently I realized, they could become one. I do believe the Domino has never been used this way, at least I hope I'm the first.

This vessel has 505 individual pieces. The main wood is Honduras Rosewood along with Bloodwood, Curly Maple, Beechwood,Wenge and Walnut. My Domino and Dowl-it were used to make the feature rings. My ets125eq was used to sand to a 320 grit surface. The finish is up to 4 coats of Tung Oil, I'll probably do a few more. This project was started about a month ago. It was commissioned by a retired Kernel. Please enjoy and critiques are very welcome.

I thought I should mention, I had around 7 or 8 dowls come out while I was turning but not one Domino. ;D

 

[Bill Wyko]

Here is an example of how the rings are created to build a turning like this. I start with my Festool planer to true up my wood. Then to the drum sander. Next it goes to the Incra Miter sled and segments are cut to 10 degrees on each side. This will allow 18 segments to lign up in pie slices. This may look easy but try to make a perfect picture frame then add 14 more sides. :-\ The segments are glued up in groups. To make it easy, I use an Aluminum plate with Minwax on it. Then I pour a puddle of glue and dip the sides of the segments then start making the groups. Once I have a perfect ring, I put a hose clamp around the ring to close the gaps. Then comes the hard part, waiting for the glue to dry. :-\. Next when the glue sets I scrape off the squeeze out and run the rings through the drum sander. At this point I can start stacking rings and gluing them up.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Now for the fun stuff. In order to get accurate alignment of the Dowl-it and the Domino a jig was required. I made this jig so it would slide to work with different size segments. A lign is drawn down the center of the segment for referenceing both tools. In order to do the dowell through the Domino this line will center both.

 

[Bill Wyko]

On to prep. I'd take a pic turning it but one handed turning will typically blow a vessel to pieces The nice thing about segmenting is you can make 2 halfs and put them together. This allows me to get it down to a little over an 1/8th inch thick. It's also like turning bowls instead of a hollow form. In addition, by going this thin, it helps prevent movement. You know it's getting thin by the sound and measuring. I also like peoples responses when they pick it up and it weighs almost nothing. ;D Now before I glue it together I sand it to a 400 grit finish and put on 4 coats of tung oil 24hrs apart

 

[Bill Wyko]

Once the top and bottom are glued together, I make a plug for the bottom out of Hard Maple. To do this, I double sided stick the plug to the aluminum and sand it now. This is MUCH easier than sticking your hand in a spinning piece of wood This is when I sign it. I put my signature in the inside so a person can see who did it without having to turn it over. This is glued in and I turn the outside.

 

[Bill Wyko]

The final steps are to turn the inside where the glue line is and do the same for the outside. Now more days of Tung Oil. They say a Turning should look good upside down as well as right side up. So here it goes.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Now for the BLOOPERS Looks easy enough? When I put the vessel in my captive system one of the wheels was pushing too hard and blew the thing in two. Oh well, cut off the first days work and make more :-[ Here's what happens when you hydrolic a domino in a segment. The other picture was the last ring being replaced after the explosion. :-[

 

[Bill Wyko]

If anyone would like to try segmenting let me know. I'll be glad to help if I can. Thanks for taking the time and please enjoy. It's 1:30 AM, I give up ;D

 

[Woodenfish]

Hmmm, dot's and slot's, good one.

A classic design element.

Beautiful piece!

Fantastic execution of tool usage!

Awesome job Bill!!

 

[semenza]

Hi,

    Dominos and dowels for accents. What a great idea.  I can see this being used for lots of easy accents, in various patterns on pieces. On larger items what an easy way to just stick them wherever looks good!  Nice. 

Seth

 

[Bill Wyko]

This was a fun piece to do. I tried a few different jigs before this worked right.  I have quite a few ways I'm going to try to expand on using this technique. Next project is to finish LOMLs jewelry box. That's a tough one.

 

[Bill Wyko]

I almost forgot. I used my Domino to make the adjustable slots so I could plunge different sized segments. When I plunge the segment it's flush in the jig. There are so many other unconventional uses for the Domino.  To do this any other way would have required a jig to make the jig on a router table.I love this thing. ;D

 

[robtonya]

Once again, amazing work Bill!

 

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks Robtonya. If any of you are turners and would like to try segmented turning, let me know and I'll send you a diagram with all the dimentions and a picture of what it'll look like. It really is fun to do this and with the program to do all the math it goes pretty quick if you don't go too crazy.

 

[robtonya]

I would love to give it a try, and also try inlays such as Nickao (he does a great job by the way). I don't want to insult anyone at my attempt to their great work though.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Do you have a lathe and a fax machine? I'll fax a diagram for a project to you. It'll be an easy project and look nice too.

 

[robtonya]

I have a lathe (Shopsmith), and no fax, I could try to get a number here locally though. I really would like to give it a try. I hope it is as easy as you say it is. I read early on that this was a commissioned project? Maybe not, I can't seem to find that info now. If so, you would have to send me a personal message on what you would charge for one. Maybe if mine looks like a turd, I could see if I could afford yours.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Just PM me your address and I'll mail you a diagram of a bowl or vessel with a pic and dimentions.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Last but not least, I'd like to re-up this one as well. I will be working on other projects but I don't think I'll be done this month.

 

[Bill Wyko]

I had posted somewhere a diagram of how to make a turning. I was wondering if anyone needed copies of it?