Woods of Wisdom LLC

Final Hollowing  

      If you want to instantly put yourself into a state of deep depression then we highly recommend hollowing while you are surrounded by plenty of loud noises, telephones, barking dogs and other obvious distractions.

     We can almost guarantee that the moment you begin hollowing, the piece will blow off the base and launch itself into the nearest wall or through a nearby window. Wait for it... your state of depression will instantly set in when you realize all that remains of your carefully carved turning is a spinning chunk of wood.        

      With this in mind, the final hollow is taken far more seriously than reshaping the final form.

      It's worth mentioning here that although it's apparent the beauty of our piece is determined by our choice of the final exterior shape and carved embellishments, the feel and balance of our piece is determined during the hollowing stage. Using calipers as a guide, the piece is reshaped internally to the thickness of 1/4 inch or less. The base is left thicker to allow the piece to settle properly when placed down. The mechanics of hollowing are certainly different than creating an external shape. During the exterior shaping of our piece, we have 100% visibility of our tool's cutting edge; however, that is not the case throughout final hollowing. For the most part we can't see our cutting edge at all and are left to our natural abilities to feel while guiding our cutting contour down the inside edge of a 70 mph spinning vessel that we can't see into... What a concept but a truthful one! The best method to success here is to relax, focus, and take our time. When the calipers slide down the walls of our wooden piece and provide an indicator that the walls are consistently even then we begin to have faith that we just might make it through the whole process with this one.

Click here to read about the next step: Foot and Signature Flower Design