Bowl turning help needed

[Michael Armstrong]

I've been asked by my brother and sister-in-law to turn a bowl for their daughter-in-law. Actually I was asked a long time ago to do this but haven't gotten around to it. :eek: They are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and I'd like to have the bowl for them to take back to Florida with them rather than me having to ship it to them.

Okay so that was the long lead in to the question. I've attached photos of the piece of wood that I want to use for the bowl. I think when finished turn it will have some nice swirly grain and I would like to keep some of the bark inclusions. That is the kind of thing they have asked for. I'm trying to figure out how to turn this piece to take maximum advantage of the figure etc. Right now I'm thinking of gluing a waste block to what is shown at the tailstock end and making that the base of the bowl. As you can see I've already started to shape it that way. I could change things up and turn a tenon at the headstock end and make that the base. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to screw up this nice piece of wood! This hasn't been exactly my most stellar week of turning since I have already destroyed three nice offset candlesticks that were near completion.

Thanks for the help!
Michael

[curtis rosche]

well, it looks like you are on your way to making a bowl. looking at the last picture you need to go deeper. there is to much bark on that one side. when you hollow out the bowl you will be left with mainly bark on that side. you could either take more off, which will give you enough room to make a foot to hold with the chuck. or you could pick a new center on the peice. so that when you start the lathe it will wobble, but the side getting cut down will be the side where all the bark is.

im not sure how best to explain how to do the second one. maybe someone else can

[Michael Armstrong]

Thanks Curtis. I've really just started to develop the curve for the bowl so I think once I work on that some more I will get more solid wood and less bark. As you suggested I may just need to go deeper to get enough wood to make a tenon to grip.

Michael

[curtis rosche]

if you are going to use that whole blank for the bowl, you need a much bigger curve

[Dennis Ford]

It looks like you are on the way to a bowl with very interesting grain in the bottom and a solid or almost solid rim. If it was mine, I would attach a faceplate to the glue block you mentioned and go for it. Reversing the bowl to finish the bottom may be interesting but certainly not impossible.

[Mark Burge]

To me it looks like you've got some natural edge going on on the rim side from the second photo. That looks like that runs in far enough that you will be able to keep that no matter how far in you take the top of the bowl. That is probably enough to satisfy your bark inclusive family. That said, I think you should just focus on the form of the bowl and let the wood do its own talkin'. When all is said and done, its form that makes a nice bowl, not the grain.

[ROY DICK]

I am in no means an expert in turning. If you have a drill press or one that you could use, then I would use a 2" forstner bit in the head stock end of your bowl. Shape the outside of the bowl using a tennon or recess in the tail stock end, depending on if you have a donut chuck or not.
If they want as much inclusion showing, that is just the way I would do it.
Just my thoughts. Good luck, no matter what you decide to do, but please post a final picture. Thanks.

Roy

[Michael Armstrong]

if you are going to use that whole blank for the bowl, you need a much bigger curve

Yup lots of work to do on the curve yet. Just thought I'd stop and ask for ideas before I got too far.


Reversing the bowl to finish the bottom may be interesting but certainly not impossible.

I think you're right. It may be a challenge but a challenge can be a good thing. I'm going to give it a shot anyway.


That said, I think you should just focus on the form of the bowl and let the wood do its own talkin'. When all is said and done, its form that makes a nice bowl, not the grain.

The nice thing about working with wood is that when it talks to me it doesn't use the kind if language that the students used to when I was a Vice-Principal:eek:! Form and figure need to be considered in this piece because the latter is what my sister-in-law asked about when we last talked about the bowl. Sine they gave one of my bowls to their other daughter-in-law last year I kind of have to make sure to make something comparable to that bowl.


Good luck, no matter what you decide to do, but please post a final picture. Thanks.

I'll make sure a photo makes it on here once I get this done. I'm switching back and forth between this and a few other projects so I'll end up close to the deadline by the time it is finished (I hope!)

Thanks everyone.
Michael

[Kyle Iwamoto]

If in case you didn't already know, hit the inclusions repeatedly with thin CA to hold them in there.

My .02 on bowls, there are 2 ways to turn a bowl. Get the biggest bowl you can, which looks like what you're doing. Or, look at the blanks and get the nicest looking bowl from the blank, not considering size.

There is no wrong way to turn a bowl.

[Curt Fuller]

My $0.02 would be to continue with the way you've started, using the side of the blank that is towards the tailstock for the bottom of the bowl. I would turn a tenon instead of using a waste block to chuck the bowl mostly because it looks like green wood and will be hard to get a good tight glue joint with a waste block. It looks like there is still a small amount of pith (center of the log) near what will be the top edge of the bowls. That's almost a guaranteed place for it to crack, especially with green wood. So I would turn away the top edge until you get past the pith. Also because it appears in the pics to be green wood, looks like maple, you'll need to turn the bowl fairly thin, 3/8" or less to hopefully keep it from cracking. But expect some substantial warping. I personally like green turned bowls that are turned from start to finish all in one go and allowed to warp. Otherwise, bowls need to be rough turned, allowed to dry and get the warping out of their system, and then re-turned to final shape.

Also, as a side note, the time to try to get the most from the figure in the wood is when you're using the chainsaw to cut the blanks. Try to capitalize on the crotch sections, bends, and other interesting abnormalties in the logs that cause the curl, feather, and other interesting features in the wood. I usually use the straight sections of a log for firewood.

Hope that helps or at least makes sense.

[Michael Armstrong]

If in case you didn't already know, hit the inclusions repeatedly with thin CA to hold them in there.

My .02 on bowls, there are 2 ways to turn a bowl. Get the biggest bowl you can, which looks like what you're doing. Or, look at the blanks and get the nicest looking bowl from the blank, not considering size.

Thanks Kyle. I actually think I can accomplish both with this blank. With the inclusions and the figure that doesn't show up in the quick photos I took a big bowl should look really nice. At least that is what I'm hoping.


My $0.02 would be to continue with the way you've started, using the side of the blank that is towards the tailstock for the bottom of the bowl. I would turn a tenon instead of using a waste block to chuck the bowl mostly because it looks like green wood and will be hard to get a good tight glue joint with a waste block. It looks like there is still a small amount of pith (center of the log) near what will be the top edge of the bowls. That's almost a guaranteed place for it to crack, especially with green wood. So I would turn away the top edge until you get past the pith. Also because it appears in the pics to be green wood, looks like maple, you'll need to turn the bowl fairly thin, 3/8" or less to hopefully keep it from cracking. But expect some substantial warping. I personally like green turned bowls that are turned from start to finish all in one go and allowed to warp. Otherwise, bowls need to be rough turned, allowed to dry and get the warping out of their system, and then re-turned to final shape.

Also, as a side note, the time to try to get the most from the figure in the wood is when you're using the chainsaw to cut the blanks. Try to capitalize on the crotch sections, bends, and other interesting abnormalties in the logs that cause the curl, feather, and other interesting features in the wood. I usually use the straight sections of a log for firewood.

Hope that helps or at least makes sense.

Curt - the wood is actually fairly dry - about 10%. It has been sitting in my garage for a few years now. I should have posted a before beginning turning photo so everyone could see what it was like at that stage. I believe it is a soft maple burl because there really is quite a bit of figure to the wood.

I've turned very few bowls but am enjoying the challenge of this one. As long as I can get it off the lathe in one piece I'm sure the recipient will like it.

Michael