I went to the workshop this morning to make a natural-edge bowl, but started playing with an idea that's been banging around inside my head for months and months. I wanted to make a water flask, based on the type that we always used to see the Cowboys drinking from in the Westerns.
The body is a single piece of sycamore. a bit like the body of a tambourine, with a pair of strap hangers set into the rim. These hangers were turned out of myrtle, as a single ring, but with a beading tool and parted off, then pushed into an internal, then an external jam chuck to clean it off and sand it. finally, the ring was sawn into two pieces and set into shallow holes in the rim. Each of the holes was drilled through the rim at a smaller size, so that each half of the ring could be pushed into position and taped down whilst epoxy mortar was pressed into the holes from the inside.
The front and back panels are myrtle burr, a bit like a pair of old fashioned hub-caps, with the front panel having a small decorative ring of sycamore set into it. Finally the neck and the stopper were turned from another piece of myrtle burr, and glued into a hole in the rim. The stopper will have a black rubber 'O' ring on it to stop it from falling out when the flask is handled. The strap is three lengths of black leather thong, plaited together with the ends whipped with waxed whipping twine.
It's a purely decorative piece, certainly not meant to be functional, and I doubt that the little hanging rings would stand the weight of a flask full of liquid. The main diameter of the body is 8" (20cm) and the body is 2" (5cm) deep, with the dome shape of the front and back panels giving an overall depth of 3.25" (8cm). It's had a sealing coat of melamine lacquer and a couple of buffed coats of carnauba.
C&C always welcome....Les
