LARGE OUTDOOR FLOWER VASE

This vase I made for my daughter’s birthday. The wood was a support beam from a deck that my neighbor was tearing down. It was a 4” x 12” cedar beam.

I wanted to make the vase unique, so first off, I decided to make it 7 sided. 360° ÷ 7 = 51.4°. Divide that be 2 which comes to 25.7°. This is the angle that you will set the blade at on your saw. I also wanted a noticeable taper on it, so I made the top diameter twice the diameter as the bottom. To find the angle of the taper you can do the math and find the tangent of a triangle. However I find it easier and more accurate to lay out the dimensions on my workbench. Then transfer the measurements to the taper jig.

I started out by making approximate rough cuts of my staves. Then I ripped the beam into three equal thicknesses. I did it in this order just so that I wouldn’t have to rip the entire 12” wide beam on the bandsaw.

After cutting the approximate length you want for your staves, rip your angled tapers with a taper jig.

After this step, you will need to fine tune the angle cuts for the top and bottom of the staves. To find this angle, I used a protractor on the lay out that I made earlier on my workbench.

I made a jig for my router, to make random dados across each stave. These were for some pakauk inlays I added, to give some color to the vase. I cut the inlays extra long. Then after glueing the inlays in, I trimmed off the excess with a bandsaw.

To glue this all up with this many staves, it’s easiest to tape the staves together, then wrap them into the circle on your workbench.

Leave the circle opened slightly so that you can use a thin wedge or credit card, to apply the waterproof wood glue in the staves.

Then use band straps to pull it all together.

I traced the shape of the vase to make this plug to fit in the base. I notched and drilled plenty of drain holes in it. I put this in to hold bricks in the bottom, for a ballast, so that the vase won’t be so top heavy.

I also cut this insert, matching the taper of the vase, which will sit down about 10”, to hold the potting soil.

One last decoration added is the Lichtenberg burning.

After the burning I do the finish sanding. I sealed the vase with boiled linseed oil for a protective coating and a nice shine. Before oiling it though, I carefully put one coat of schellac just on the padauk, in order the keep the bright color. If you didn’t do this, the padauk would come out dark, from the oil. This was my first time using a boiled linseed oil finish. I liked how it applied, and the smooth finish. But I realized that it would be best to apply this finish outside, because of the strong odor from the mineral spirits that are added to it.

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