Alder closed form

I have trimmed the alder turning blank twice because of cracks that developed while I shuffled it around my shop the last couple years. The last time I found it, while looking for some thing else, I trimmed it with the lathe. The original piece was much larger and would have featured the feather figure more prominently if it had been roughed out about 4 years ago as planned.

I used a glue block for turning to get the maximum height possible from the whittled down alder blank. I wanted to raise the piece which is why I added the bubinga foot. I used bubinga for the collar to match.

Sandy wants a finial added to the collar. I was considering a finial made from figured alder added to the existing collar. As you can see the collar is not glued in place so a completely new collar and/or finial can still be added.


Finished with 2 coats of witch's brew(equal parts of linseed oil, polyurethane and naptha) and 4 coats of Rockler's brand gel polyurethane. The finish combination brings out the figure and adds depth. No buffing has been done to the finish yet.

Although the piece looks good without the collar I have already sanded the inside to 600 so a small opening is required. According to Wally Dickerman every one of his pieces with a small opening has been sanded to 600 before applying the collar. And I want to emulate Wally.