I have been asked a number of times how the natural edged hollow vessels are made.... many of the techniques are similar to turning a natural edge bowl (see a bowl is born)
here's how its done...
The 'raw' burr is prepared in the same fashion as for the natural edge bowl
The base is finished first with a recess cut to allow fitting onto the dovetail jaw chuck
Now mounted on the chuck the top face can be roughly shaped- it is important to ensure that not too much is removed as there needs to be sufficient wood left to allow the holes to form when hollowing the inside
Very very carefully start to remove the inside through the original hole used to mount the blank on the pin chuck
The tool used is a "Sorby Hooker" specifcally designed for the task
Continue to take fine cuts gradually removing the inside. It is neccessary to periodically remove the blank from the lathe to empty the debris out.
Eventually the wall becomes thin enough for the dimples in the top to become a hole
....and it all becomes a lot easier as it is now possible to see what the cutter is doing
With the inside hollowed out, the top is finally shaped, sanded oiled and polished.
The finished article
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