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woodezine - Volume
II - Issue VIII- August 2004
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All text and images on this page are copyrighted and are reproduced
with the artist's permission.
Woodezine's Turner of the Month
Kevin Neelley,
Segmented vessels and so much more...
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Bowl #0743b
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| Woodworkers are decent people. Nobody shares their time, expertise and resources like saw jockeys do. Take, for instance, acclaimed woodturner Kevin Neelley. Here's a guy who has spent twelve years honing his talents and turning literally hundreds of bowls, vases, platters and other objects. And as soon as he gets a Web site, what does he do? He dedicates a huge percentage of it to helping the rest of us design, build and turn segmented bowls. |
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0739b: click to enlarge. |
One of the pages on his Web site "is intended for the beginning segmented bowl maker. This is basically a no math ... approach to segmented bowl design. I have made three design sheets that will help the beginner through the design phase. Using these three design sheets, I have designed a 9-layered bowl using 12-sided frame-mitered rings. This webpage will walk you through the design steps." That's how he introduces an online tutorial in bowl making that in any other field would never see the light of day without a price tag. Kevin walks us through the construction of a segmented bowl executed in maple and purpleheart, with holly and blackwood veneer details. It's constructed from 12-sided frame-mitered rings, except for the base, which is a solid disk. |
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Kevin lives in Kansas and is a member of the Kansas City Woodturners, which is a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. The woodturnings on his Web site are examples of his unique and imaginative designs. He shows his work at local and regional art fairs. Many of his turnings are constructed from hundreds of pieces of exotic wood which he glues together in intricate patterns, sometimes called polychromatic segmented style.Ê The patterns go completely through the turning. |
489b: click to enlarge. |
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0750a: click to enlarge. |
It may take several weeks to complete a bowl or vase due to the woodturning's complexity and glue drying time.Ê He uses a wood lathe to turn the glued assembly smooth. The final finishing step is several coats of lacquer, buffed with a beeswax/carnauba wax blend. Kevin designs his woodturnings using a pencil and paper, but "I figure out how to build my designs using a computer. He has developed software for this task - for both PCs and Palm (TM) handhelds, which he sells for less than $20. |
| Fellow turners might be interested in some of the pages on his Web site. Apart from the instruction pages about segmented bowl design, he also shows the photo sequence for construction - including steps for making two types of segmented bowls - Basic Frame Miter, and Compound Miter. There are two pages with plans for constructing accurate ring-segment cutting sleds for a table saw - Frame Miter Sled, andÊCompound Miter Sled. Kevin also includes a page with several interesting home-made tools that he uses in his studio (see Tools and Jigs). And his Links page has hyperlinks to websites of other segmented woodturners, as well as tool and information websites that he recommends. |
0656a: click to enlarge. |
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628b: click to enlarge. |
"A one-car garage is a shop. A two-car garage is a studio". Kevin heard that at a Kansas City Woodturners
club meeting. |
| Actually, he has a studio in his house, not in the garage. "It's in a separate room in my basement" he says. "The room has been sealed off from the rest of the house because of the wood dust I generate. When I'm working in my studio, I turn on a powered wall vent so the direction of air flow through my studio door is always into my studio and out of my house through the wall vent, not into the basement. The only wood dust that gets into my house is on my clothes. A dust collection system helps to keep the wood dust off me. I use a powered visor to keep dust out of my lungs." |
0720a: click to enlarge. |
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0729a: click to enlarge. |
His studio is fairly small so he limits its contents to tools he uses every day. He stores wood in his basement and garage. He stores rarely-used tools, like a planer and jointer, in the furnace room. If you're interested in his studio's floor plan, there's an image of it on the Web site.. |
| Also on his Web site are literally hundreds of photos of his incredible work. They are in catalog format - lots of thumbnails you can click on to see a large image. We just picked a few at random to whet your appetite. The Web site address is given below in the form of a hyperelink: just click and go there. |
0746b: click to enlarge. |
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0705a: click to enlarge. |
If you're interested in adding some of Kevin's work to your collection, please note that all of the woodturnings here and on his Web site are "one of a kind", and most of the ones shown are still available. Similar pieces can be made on a commission basis, but will never be exactly the same due to "differences in the wood and the whims of the artist". Scroll down for Kevin's contact info. |
If you're interested in purchasing any of Kevin's pieces,
give him a call at 402-203-2429.
Please note that some of the works shown here
may already have found a new home.
Visit Kevin online (http://www.turnedwood.com)
http://www.oneway.ca