Practice and lesson

[Steve Frederick]

I was trying out my home-built hollowing rig this weekend.
I finished the shape..so I thought. I was sanding on the lathe and THWACK! The form split apart!:mad:
It seems I had the bottom of the form too thin!
I cut it apart to see what had gone wrong.
I did "OK" at the top, but lost it as I approached the bottom.
The form would have been 3" in diameter by 3" tall. The "opening was 1".The bottom was not salvageable.
Well, more practice for me!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Steve - hollowing is an exercise in patience! You hollow a little, clear out the shavings and take a thickness measurement. Then, repeat until finished! All I can say is stick with it - it gets better with doing!

[Judy Kingery]

Steve,

Yep, key is (for me only a personal preference) guage your depth and I use a decent set of calipers. You can really do that with about anything, but calipers work best for me. Best to you (nice shape on your bowl) and you'll get there for sure!

Jude

[alex carey]

I also use calibers but only when it starts getting really thin. I just knock on the wood. You can usually tell how thick it is with a little practice.

[Bernie Weishapl]

As others have said measure then measure again.

[Jim Kountz]

Ooo its deja vu!! Seems to me I made some of those things myself and I wasnt even doing a HF, I did this while turning a bowl!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve....isn't it amazing the different forms we turners can devise for the common funnel. Nothing boring about your funnel or the ones all of us have turned!:rolleyes:

Hang in there! Patience..measure.....patience....

[Ryan Baker]

Been there, done that! I think every hollow turner has a collection of funnels. Your percentage improves with practice.