Turning a Wood Chandelier

Ashley Harwood is a professional woodturner in Charleston, South Carolina. In the video, she explains that part of her business was production work for other companies. One of them, a Charleston lighting company that got a few hundred pieces a year from her, asked for a custom, extra-large chandelier turning. In this craft video, about seven and a half minutes long, she shows how she pulled it off.

The body starts as a blank of kiln-dried ash, 9½ by 9½ by 30 inches. The glue-up takes extra hands, and her friend Carlos steps out from behind the camera to help mount it on the lathe. The piece reaches so far from the chuck that she adds a steady rest. Then she hollows it so the wood can move with changes in humidity and temperature, starting with a bowl gouge and a Forstner bit and switching to a hollowing tool as it gets deeper.

A lot of people are surprised by how gently she holds her tools. Her style relies on finesse and sharp tools rather than muscle. She sets the diameters first, then shapes the curves between them. That’s where a small mistake could ruin the piece, because “you can’t put the wood back on.” Then it’s sanded, cut to length and ready for her client.