Large apple

I`ve found oversized apples quite popular, perhaps because they are bigger they hold there own better when used as a stand alone piece.
This is how i went about making the spalted Beech apple above.

I started with a 4 1/4" roughly square blank, my first job was to find the center.

Once this was done it was over to the pillar drill to make a pilot hole for the screw chuck.

Next i made a new screw chuck, whenever i have a piece of wood left over from a project that is held in the chuck, i part off the front & put it to one side ready for making into a screw chuck.
Like the piece of Oak below, all i needed to do was fit it in the jaws, true up the face & drill a hole for the screw.

That done, the Oak was removed from the chuck & a screw inserted from the back, a little super glue was applied to the screw head to help keep it secure.

I was then ready to screw this to the pre-drilled blank, mount it back in the chuck jaws & turn the blank down, shaping the top of the apple. With this done a drill chuck & bit was placed in the tail stock & a second pilot hole drilled in the opposite end of the apple.

The blank was then reverse chucked & the bottom of the apple turned to shape.

This was then sanded & put to one side ready for polishing. Next pin jaws were put on the chuck to hold a couple of off cuts of blackwood to turn the calyx & stem.

The three pieces were then polished & the calyx & stem glued into the apple.

Gilded Vase

I`ve been experimenting with colouring & decided to try wax gilding in open grain.
My choice of timber was oak, but Ash or any other open grained wood will do. As this was my first attempt, i decided to turn a simple vase shape 5 1/2" high By 2 1/2" across.

This was sanded on the lathe to 800 grit, then parted off & the dust in the grain pours removed with a stiff tooth brush.

Once happy the dust was removed, the vase was coated with 3 coats of Chestnut black spirit stain.

When this was dry the gold gild wax was rubbed sparingly over the vase, this operation needed to be done quickly. the excess being removed with a cloth before it had time to dry on the surface, I only wanted the gold to show in the grain.

The vase was then re-mounted on the lathe attached by a jam chuck, where 2 coats of Chestnut microcrystalline wax was applied.

Finally polished & buffed.