how long do 40 bowls take?

[curtis rosche]

how long does it take to make 40 bowls/plates? i am going to do some turning for my senior project, but i need to make a rough time line for the project. i have from now (when my finger heals) till this time next year to do it.

do bowls individually, or turn lots, then sand lots, then finish lots? how would you suggest doing it.

[Mike Minto]

40 bowls/plates take exactly an hour and a half. mike

[curtis rosche]

start to finish? starting from a block thats not mounted?

[Steve Frederick]

40 bowls/plates take exactly an hour and a half. mike
Err...Each!;)

[Curt Fuller]

Senior project eh? Do you mean that you want to finish them while your a senior or before you become a senior citizen? I think the latter would be close to my time frame, if I hurried.

[Dick Sowa]

It will take as long as it takes :)

Seriously, if you have a year to do them...that's less than one bowl a week. You have plenty of time...especially if you are starting with dry blanks. Most of your time will be taken up letting finishes dry.

If you are starting with freshly cut blanks, then you will probably need another way to dry them.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Ditto the last post. I've been turning a lot of natural edge pieces lately, and I may spend a couple hours or more sanding each if its a large piece. It takes a while when you can't sand and spin at the same time. That said, sharp tools and dry wood, with shear cuts to finish means very little time spent sanding. Speaking from experience, don't leave it all til the end of the time allowed. You'll finish in plenty of time, and enjoy yourself, I'm sure. ;)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Curtis - do you have to make some type of a production flow chart as part of the project? If so, turn one bowl from start to finish, even if you start with a rough blank, and document each step as far as procedure and also time taken. Should get you real close when you go to estimate time to complete 40 bowls.

[Jim Kountz]

Well if Im able to core them I could rough that many in a couple days then they would need to be dried. Finish turning still takes me a long time, I havent quite got up to speed on that yet. Some bowls takes me 30 minutes to finish turn and sand while others take me over an hour. Im still finding my way in all this so your mileage will vary. Coring is a fast way to rough turn some bowls in a hurry.

[alex carey]

That really depends on your, when I started I was super slow, the better I get the faster I get.

Stuart Batty did a class at our guild, there was a poster of 50 all different turnings by him from when he was 18. He said he did all of them in 10 days. 10 of them were square because his band saw broke towards the end and he didn't have the time.

So I guess what I'm saying is, how fast are you?

[Dan Forman]

Personally, I would not want to sand 40 bowl and plates in a row. I would probably break them up so that I wasn't doing the same operation for too long a stretch, lest I go bonkers. I reckon by the end you will be able to turn a pretty fair bowl though. Good luck.

Dan

[Don Eddard]

You question is virtually impossible to answer. It will vary from turner to turner, and depend on lots of other factors like type of wood, size and moisture content of your blanks, form of your turned pieces, your skills, and a whole load of other stuff we'll just call 'stuff'.

It's like asking how long it takes to get from Los Angeles to New York City. Some people will fly in a few hours, others will drive in a few days, and others will bicycle in a few weeks.

[curtis rosche]

not a flow chart, but like a time line. like having all the roughing out done by a certain month, then all the sanding by like setember, finishing by january. something like that. but should they be done one at a time or all at once?

[Greg Just]

I would recommend lots of 10 to 15 and prep some extras for fallout. There will be some that won't make it to the end. Breaking them into lots will make the job easier so you are not doing the same thing over 40 bowls at a time. Good luck - sounds like an exciting project. What are the plans for the completed bowls?

[curtis rosche]

i am going to make the bowls out of the wood from my church. they will then be sold at the churches bazar for a fundraiser. the youth group will get half the profit upto $1000. my youth group leader said that if i were to make $2500 she would only take $1000, even though i offered all of it. there are a lot more than 40 bowls(more like 200 worth) , but i am only going to officialy document 40 of them for school.

[jason lambert]

Have you ever turned a bowl and plate? How long did it take. Also are you counting the 3-6 months to let it dry and havening to make twice as many so you have some that are not cracked or warped? Or are you going to use DNA or something to aid drying time. Alot also depends on the equipnment you have if you have a coring system you can knock out blanks fast if not by hand it takes 10x longer. At my speed 40 bowls and plates would take about about a 9 month by the time they are sanded and finished. But than again I aim for perfection I am not making utility type stuff.

[Al Wasser]

You havn't mentioned the size of the bowls or what type of wood you will use. I can turn and finish a small (under 6") aspen bowl in under an hour while a 12 bowl from anything will take a lot longer. Sounds like you are using wood from the church which is likely old, very dry, and brittle. That may cause issues. However it works out, good luck. Sounds like a worthwhile cause.

[Reed Gray]

Curtis,
This is one of those 'it depends' questions. I can do the turning on 40 simple bowls that are about 7 to 8 inches wide and 2 inches deep in one day. If you start getting fancy with your designs, then you will take more time. I am a production turner. This would be with blanks that are already prepped, which for me would mean cut round, a recess cut into the top of the blank for chuck mounting (no face plates), and a second hole drilled through the top to about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the bowl so I don't have to measure for depth to determine the thickness of the bottom of the bowl. This also means leaving the recess on the bottom as a finished element. Sanding time is a bit slower, and finishing time is really easy if you use walnut oil and wax, only a minute or 2 per bowl. Spray finished, or wipe on oil finishes take a bit more time.

Cutting the blanks out of dry planks is faster and easier than cutting them from log sections. Green turning to final thickness and letting them dry and warp is faster than green turning thick, drying, and then returning. Sanding time isn't much different, but mostly that depends on how good of a job you did with your cutting tools.

I do find it a bit faster to do it in stages; prep all the blanks at once, turn them all at once, then sand and finish all at once. Your first 5 bowls will take 2 to 3 time as long to turn as your last 5 bowls.

Although I have never timed it all out, I would guess that prep time a bit less than 1/3 of the time you will spend, turning is a bit less than 1/3, and sanding and finishing is probably more than 1/3. This would include set up time on the lathe and bandsaw, and finishing, and clean up time.

robo hippy

[Bruce McElhaney]

I think Mike meant, exactly one year and one hour and a half. ;)

[Kim Ford]

Curtis;

I do something similar every year for Christmas. I usually send all the friends and relatives bowls.
Most of my gift bowls are 10" in diameter with a 3-5" height. and I figure about 10% failure, either cracking or other mishaps.

If you are going to put together a schedule and work plan these are the tasks I would list:

Gather Wood: undertimed
Rough to square size blanks with chainsaw and seal: undetermined
Mount on Lathe and rough - 1 hour
Bag to dry: 10 minutes
First Dry: 30 days
Sacrificial Block mount - 10 Minutes
Second Rough- 30 minutes
Stablization dry- 10 days
Final Cut- 30- 45 minutes
Sanding- 1 hour +/-
Reverse; vacuum chuck and foot detail - 30 minutes
Final hand sand and polish 30 minutes

I understand my style and order of events may not be how you work, but this gives you some idea of what is involved. I usually start in September and have 30-40 bowls done for christmas.

Good Luck; sounds like a fun project.

[curtis rosche]

well, they dont need air drying time, they are almoost too dry. they will be 8.5in and under. i can get a bowl done in about 30 minutes if there are no sanding or mounting issuse

[curtis rosche]

thanks for the help

[Marc Himes]

A couple of questions.

Is the wood from your church green and wet? If so the drying time will be a big factor (DNA may help). If it is green I would start roughing until all were done then start again when they are dry. (I have not done any bowls start to finish from green wood.) If the wood is dry I would turn each from start to finish. With good dry wood this would take me about one to two hours per bowl for a simple shape. The more detail you add, and the bigger the piece, the longer it takes to sand. Is this to be done on your lathe or a lathe at school? Having your own would certainly be a big plus.

Good luck.

Marc Himes

[Jeff Nicol]

Curtis, You forgot to mention that all the wood you are turning is from your great salvage of all the old timbers from your churches remodeling job. So all should take that into consideration at the time line. Most of the wood is very dry like he says so it may be harder to turn than green and returned later. But he does not have to wait for it to dry, but to soak up gallons of finish! So make a plate and make a bowl and keep track of the time and add 10% for error and that should give you a pretty close time line. You have plenty of time if you stay away from the girls and not cutting your fingers off!

Have fun and stay safe,

Jeff

[Jamie Cowan]

Funny how stuff happens. I just got an order for four bowls, which is huge for me. Then I show up here and see a workload like that. Wow.

[Mark Norman]

Ya better just get started....Just duit!!

Let us know how long it takes ya!...

[curtis rosche]

ill start with 5 at a time. i will start as soon as the doctor clears me to do it. lucky me the wood doesnt catch unless you use the tool completly wrong, so i shouldnt have to worry about my finger.

the bowls will just be plain, every time i try to do detail stuff it ends up to be what i like and no one else likes it

[Frank Kobilsek]

Curtis

An idea for you to consider. Make some sets. For example I make two matching plates (10" dinner plates) then my wife packs them into a picnic basket with all the other stuff you need for a picnic and that is often a wedding present from us.

In your 40 pieces try making some matching sets 2 or 4 and then when showing, sell as set. I find it easier to make matching piece when starting with dry wood, from a plank. That way the prep steps that Reed talked about can be done the same. Starting to turn with like blanks improves the odds of like finish goods. Matching piece adds a little challenge and will improve your skills too.

Good project, good cause, I can't think of anything better to keep a senior in High school out of trouble for a year.

Frank

[Kim Ford]

Curtis;

I wasn't aware these were old beams from you church, so my schedule is a little off.

However; I do have people bring me old beams from their barns and ask for bowls and goblets and such. Around here these are usually 8x8 oak, walnut, hickory, or sumac, and most of the barns are well over 100 years old. There are a few tricks I have learned.


Know and understand that old beams do have moisture in them and you have to treat them accordingly. What I mean by that is in the first inch or so from the outside the moisture content may be 10% or less yet at the center the moisture content may be 17%. Both are acceptable limits except when the variation exists in the same bowl that you have just turned in one pass to 3/8" wall thickness.
Wood tension does exist in seasoned beams and that as well can cause stress related bending and cracking issues.
Surface cracks can appear very easily if you get the wood to hot either with your cutting tool or with sandpaper. Lathe speed, and light cuts are critical until you know how the wood is going to react. Fast is not always better.
I like to use waste blocks when I turn these type of projects because you can rough out the bowl today, let it rest, come back to it tomorrow or next week and you have exact center. It can go on and off the lathe as many times as you want it to and you have no loss.
Last piece of advice and this is what I do when I get these type of projects. I turn them in a minimum of two stages. The first is a rough probably down to about 3/4" wall thickness. I them put the blank in a trash can that has shavings in it. (Make sure the shavings aren't too wet or you can get mold.) I have 30 gallon plastic trash cans in my shop that I put all of my shavings in until I can dispose of them so I just bury the bowl blanks in one of these for a few days. What this does is stablize the moisture to a consistant percentage through the entire piece in a slow and gradual process rather than shocking it.
Oh also, don't leave a roughed blank on the lathe over night or for even a few hours they can shock very easily. When you are done with the session take it off an put it in the shavings.
Just a few things that I have picked up that seem to work for me.

[curtis rosche]

Kim, have you ever worked with 100yr old yellow pine or douglas fir? the peice i turned chipped a lot, how do you make it not chip?

[Nathan Hawkes]

Kim, have you ever worked with 100yr old yellow pine or douglas fir? the peice i turned chipped a lot, how do you make it not chip?

Curtis, I did the other day, but it was the first time for me. Very sharp tools were the thing for me; VERY sharp tools. Like honing with a very fine diamond file made it a lot better, but I'm personally going to even use my wet sharpener & 1000 grit stone to sharpen my skew before playing around with my salvage wood.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Kim, have you ever worked with 100yr old yellow pine or douglas fir? the peice i turned chipped a lot, how do you make it not chip?

There's an article in this month's edition of American Woodturner has an article about honing both the flute and the bevel of turning gouges; the wood they chose was redwood, because of its difficulty in turning; it tears out badly. They showed a couple of examples of the same wood turned with gouges that had been honed on the bevel, then also with the flute honed. It improved significantly with both successive honing. Pretty cool article!!!

[phil harold]

40 bowls/plates take exactly an hour and a half. mike

but which hour?


the one 2 weeks after his project is due?