More Bowls

[MIKE E BEE]

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been busy gathering wood (wood gloat pics coming), making bowl roughs and drying them using David Smiths DNA drying system. At this point i have roughs all over the place at different times in the drying stage. The concensus seem to be 10 to 20 days till they are ready to finish turn. The system works like charm. I have had very little cracking and minimal warping. Pretty cool to take wet piece of wood and "turn" it into a finished bowl in a couple of weeks time. Even cooler considering a few weeks back I did not have anything to turn and at this point I have a small back up of bowls ready to be finished. Below are a couple of my recent turns.

They are both made from cherry that was cut a just a couple of weeks ago. The first is about 7" X 3 and the second is 6" X 3". Both have been finished with a couple of coats of butcher block oil. The first ended up being a bowl for the cat and I think he loves it.

I finally purchased a chuck and just recieved it on Thursday of this week. AHHHHHHH!!!!! Thats gonna make life a whole lot easier. I got the novachuck that was on sale last week at woodcraft. Very Cool. I also picked up a new curved tool rest for doing inside the bowls. Again making life a whole lot easier and very cool.

As always your critiques and tips are more than welcome.

Thanks gents.
Mike

[John Keeton]

Congrats on the new toys, Mike, and they have served you well!! Nice work! I think I like the uniqueness of the second one a bit better - nice character to it.

The pics might be a little clearer if you either step back a little and then crop the pics, or see if your camera has a macro setting on it. They are a little out of focus. Makes it hard to appreciate your fine work.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice bowls Mike. It sounds like you are having a good time with lots of things to try.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice looking bowls Mike. Sounds like the fun is about to begin.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - nice bowls!

While using a chuck is optional - I believe you will find that the convenience it offers will soon make it indispensable.

Have fun!

[David E Keller]

Pretty wood and interesting forms. I don't think bowl turning would be as fun without a chuck, so I applaud you for doing what you've done. Looking forward to the gloat.