Thank you all for the comments. Here is something of the journey. I was exploring the brief to woodturn from a cube of timber and chose to leave the cubic form represented in the final piece. I could have deconstructed the cube and done other things but took the brief literally. I did some googling for starters and then began some ideas on the back of an envelope. These were then moved to "3D sketches" at the lathe using/abusing gash timber. The idea with vanes (possibly inspired by working on several Fiat 500 air cooled engines !) seemed to offer more of a challenge. The inside was done first to give something to follow. The vanes were marked and cut with a diamond sectioned parting tool as that is what I have. Big mistake. Maintaining an even cut (yes it was sharp) was difficult as I was bounced off and the vanes were flexing. There was very little loss of corners though. If I was to pursue this idea any more I would look to alternative tooling and practice a lot more. The square bottoms to the grooves looked wrong so I made a round ended scraper to curve them. Better, but still not right enough. Yes, the surfaces were sanded using sheet abrasive on a thin piece of steel which has distorted/rounded vanes and they have lost their integrity. So, an idea tried out for myself and demonstrated a couple of times during which issues of work holding were also covered, that's another story. Fundamentally a non starter in practical terms but it gave the brain cell a work out !
ATB John
