NE Walnut

[Kevin J Lalonde]

I keep trying to master this shape and never can get it quite right!! Actually went completely through another piece trying to get the better looking form and just never did "nail it". Turned the entire piece into shavings! What fun?! Anyways, mounted another chunk and ended up with this. I think its ok but still needs alot of work. The bark hangs over too much. It's amazing how some people on here can catch on to this so fast and fit in with the rest of the masterpieces. While guys like me cant draw a circle!! I really dont have a stitch of artist in me so this is taking longer than I expected!! :D Thanks for looking and all C&C welcome guys! 10.5"x4.5" finished with 6 coats of Wipeon Poly. I was out of waterlox (it all cured in container". Ordered a can of Minwax antique oil today though! And got my 5/8 V thompson in the mail!

[bob svoboda]

Beautiful wood and I like the NE. Good job!

[John Keeton]

Kevin, very nice piece of walnut, and you did a good job on this one. Form is the hardest part of this journey for me, and my best resources to date are a .pdf file I found on a search suggested by Charlie Knighton here (http://www.stwt.org/tompkins_design.pdf) , and the book by Raffan - Art of Turning Bowls.

Enjoy the journey!!

[Roland Martin]

I'm with John as far as forms go. I think you did a heck of a job on this one, and you did it with a very nice piece of walnut.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Kevin - that's a good looking bowl! Nice job on retaining all the bark!

Form comes with doing and no matter what shapes you turn - some will like them, some won't.

I am guessing you are not happy with the ogee shape. Study the photos that you posted here and try to figure out what it is that you could change that would give you the form that you are looking for.

Just an opinion - but I would try more of a sweeping curve on the bottom 1/3 of the bowl - would result in a smaller footprint.

[David E Keller]

Nice wood and finish. I very much like the way the bark edge extends outward. I'll second Steve's comments about the lower portion of the piece.

[Baxter Smith]

[QUOTE=Kevin J Lalonde;1369878] I really dont have a stitch of artist in me so this is taking longer than I expected!! :D QUOTE]

I can so relate to that! My first adventure with bowls was right before Christmas and finish turning some NE roughouts someone else had started.
Lots of similarities between yours and some of mine. One of the comments I recieved was something related to making the bowl try to hold to much. The big belly look. Its a matter of taste but I still find it easy to do that iof I'm not careful. Looks ok on the lathe but starts to sag when you turn it upright. Afraid of taking off too much wood I guess.
Other than that(which is just an opinion on shape)I think it looks great!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Kevin....pretty piece of wood..nice finish and the form is coming.

Form is often the toughest thing to master. Often for a new turner the problem is more to quit trying maximize the use of a particular piece of wood and worry about form. To get the graceful curves on an NE often you have to turn away a lot of wood. A shallow graceful curve is more the classic form....IMHO.

If you need something to aspire to....do a member search here on Mark Cothren.....His form on his NEs are IMHO as good as it gets.....Travis Stinson does good NEs as does Keith Burns....

Any one of those guys have excellent form again....IMHO.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice piece of walnut and the form is great. Good job holding the bark. Gotta love turning walnut.

[Kevin J Lalonde]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Yeah i do find it particularly difficult to turn away alot of the wood. I do realize it must be done for the sake of form but STILL!! While on the lathe the potbelly look is appealing but then when off of the lathe, well it's different. Ken, i have actually gone back and looked at "every" page in the history of sawmill (too much time on my hands) and studied just about every bowl posted. The guys you mentioned are masters, i agree. I'll just keep on turnin and see what happens! Have a great weekend.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You will get it Kevin! It'll come.

I'm turning a baby rattle right now. This is the 4th time I've tried this particular version. The other 3 are in my scrap bin right now.

With a little luck this one and the other one I turned will be in Houston this weekend for use by my new born twin granddaughters when they are big enough.

Sometimes...it takes time. Not everyone is gifted like John Keeton!

[Kevin J Lalonde]

He's either gifted or able to purchase expensive pieces and claim them as his own!! ;) Very talented man he is!

[John Keeton]

You guys are laying it on pretty thick!:o:o

[Frank Van Atta]

I think you've done quite well with this bowl; I like the shape.

[Kevin J Lalonde]

Mr. Keeton I didnt think you were still following this thread!! :> Dont you have something to turn into a masterpiece for us? Sneak peak? Please?

[Ken Vonk]

I like the shape. You did a great job with the bark too. It's hard to really see the curves in the pictures but it appears that you kept a good continuous curve. I'm not very fond on a foot that shows on bowls. I often put a foot on that is less that 1/16 or 1/32 of an inch that can't be easily seen from the side. Another nit picking suggestion is to continue the reverse curve all the way through the bark. It appears that you went convex, concave and then convex again on the outside. All in all I think it looks great.

Ken