Turning a roughed out bowl from white oak

[Stephen Saar]

Well I was trying to do the final turning on a white oak bowl I had rough turned a few weeks ago, but I'm having a really hard time turning it. The bowl warped so it was now oblong instead of round, so I went ahead and trued up the bottom and then flipped the bowl and started trying to true the rest of the bowl. The problem is that everything is really brittle and I'm having a hard time getting a decent cut. I've resharpened my tools, and that helps a little, but no matter what I get poor cuts, and my tools jumps around alot due to the oblong shape. I tried just doing with a really light touch to just barely take off any material and it worked a little better, but I was only removing a tiny amount of material, and I need to take off roughly 1/8-1/4 inch to fully true the bowl up. I then tried turning another bowl that is green, and I didn't have any trouble with that. This is my first time really working with a bowl I roughed out first and let dry, are they all like this or does it sound like I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks.

-Stephen

[Steve Schlumpf]

Stephen - re-turning a rough out after it is dry can be challenging cause they all warp! Only thing I do - you have already been doing and that is to use sharp tools and light cuts. It will eventually get round again and then you can finish turn it. Just part of the process!

[Bob Bergstrom]

White oak can really test your technique, tools and sometimes even the lathe. Be careful using your gouge on the end of the tool rest, you might break the rest. It would be even harder if it were kiln dried. Take your time turning it and think about burning any others you have ruffed out.

[Jeff Nicol]

Stephen, When I get a really warped bowl I will start at the small end or the base of the bowl and work my way to the rim. This is usually the direction of the wood and will cut cleaner and as you work your way to the rim there is less wobble and it is easier to cut the last bit a little at a time. It is sort of like starting a spindle out of a square block, you start at one end and work into the center taking cuts off toward the end that is being rounded off. It gets easier to blend the square to round after you have some round spindle to aim at. The warped bowl is similar as you true up the base and work your way to the rim, doing the outside of the bowl first is best in my opinion. That way you keep as much mass on the inside to keep it all together.

Hope you understand my ramblings!

Jeff

[Stephen Saar]

Thanks for the advice, I went back and tried again and had better success..... right up until I caused the bowl to splinter. :-(. Ohh well, turning wouldn't be any fun it you didn't get to fail once in a while :-). Sadly I was making this bowl as a gift, and now I don't have any other seasoned bowls. I'll just have to ship them one later.

Thanks for the help.

-Stephen

[curtis rosche]

i know some people here wont like this, but heres what i do. when i have a harder wood like white oak, or a very dry or flexible peice that is out of round, i turn up the speed, alot. with some hard woods i get, if it goes out of round and it is turning slow the tool will just get pushed back away from the wood abit before it cuts. turning up the speed helps, because it forces it to cut instead of just making the tools jump.

[Jim Underwood]

One thing I noticed on this sort of thing, is that the smaller the bowl gouge, the easier it is to get a nice cut started. I can cut faster with the smaller bowl gouge. Could be it's just me, but I heard a demonstrator say that once too... If you use a great big one, it seems to just get banged around.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Jim. A smaller gouge might be in order. One thing is you need patience when doing a warped bowl and go slow. Take light cuts with a sharp tool. I do like Jeff does and start from the small end of the bowl and work my way out to the rim. Keep at it. Oak is a very hard and difficult wood to work with when dry in my opinion.

[Kim Ford]

Stephen;

Oak can be a real bear to turn dry and I am not a cheerleader of it until it is sanded out completely and the last coat of finish is on. However, I have a lot of it where I live and it does produce quite a nice finished piece.

I use a little different process for oak than most other woods. Rough it out green to at least a 1"- 1 1/4" wall for a 12" bowl which is a little thicker than normal for me. I then let it dry out about half way, put it back on the lathe and bring it to round again both inside and out, them back in the bag immediately to finish it's drying cycle. What I have found is that the local oak here is very hard but also very brittle and if you try to do too much altering to it at any one time it will crack quite easily. The other thing you do not want to do is get it too hot when turning (rubbing the bevel) or sanding because this will promote cracking it seems more so than in other woods.

Oak also has a tendancy to splinter quite easily and these can be wicked on your hands, so just be very careful.

Just my 2 cents.