My wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary not too long ago. Due to some other issues like the house needing a roof we didn’t have a lot of cash to do things. I decided that I would make her a present on the lathe. Overall I think it went pretty well and my wife loved it. Things being off center was planned but I think I should have leaned more into it so that it was obvious it was intentional.
This was made from 2 pieces of a cousin’s tree that came down during a storm and was going to be firewood and then the container portion is made from a small piece I bought at Rockler for about $10. The base was fairly easy, Just threw the log on the lathe, and went to town.
The container portion was a little more difficult. I hate hollowing because I’m always afraid I’m going to get a catch and come off the lathe or shatter. I tried to make the walls as straight as possible. I didn’t want it to look too much like a bowl.
This is actually the second top I made. The first one was snatched by the dog and chewed up. It worked out pretty well.
Once I finished turning all the pieces I realized I had a problem. I forgot to put a hollow into the top for the cup/container portion to go into. I spent about an hour making it with forstner bits, chisels, a dremel, and sanding. Once completed I glue the base to the container, let that dry, and applied shellac to everything.
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