This lovely vase is made of two shades of maple using the segmenting technique. This involves cutting the wood into little wedges that fit together to form rings. Each layer of the vase above is made from twenty-four wedges, each cut at a precise fifteen degree angle.
This photo shows the rings in glue-up and the wedges are clearly visible. If the angle cuts are off by even 1/10 a degree, the wedges don’t fit precisely into a ring so it is customary to cut a test ring or two with cheap or scrap wood to dial in the fit before proceeding.
The wood is first milled into strips. Thin strips make thin rings. Thicker strips make chunkier rings. The diameter of the ring is controlled by the depth of cut on the strip. The thirteen rings that make up this vase are all in the photo.
(Yes, I know, they are sitting on a trash bin. Non-stick horizontal surfaces are at a premium in my garage-turned-workshop.)
In this shot I’ve removed the hose clamps and most of the rubber bands to do a dry-fit. This is the first sanity-check where I make sure I have all the right rings, in the right order, and in the right sizes.
Large gaps are visible between rings 6, 7, and 8. This is because the rings are never quite flat straight out of glue-up, and there is also glue squeeze-out on the top and bottom of the rings.
This is the second dry-fit after running the rings through the drum sander – which is the tool they are sitting on. The gaps we saw in the previous photo are gone. Although it is hard to see. some of the light/dark band contrast is visible at this stage. My water bottle is for size comparison.
A small, circular block of wood is glued to the solid bottom ring so it can be mounted to the lathe. I true up the outer edge and then clue the next two or three rings on. Those are cut to size inside and out, then the next couple rings glued on. This is repeated until all rings are attached and turned. Due to the curing time between rings, this can be a very time-consuming process during which the lathe isn’t available for any other work.
The final result is definitely worth the time and effort, though.