First Large (for me) Bowl

[Dave Kartzman]

I am a newbie turner; having started taking lessons since last November. I just finished my first 'large' bowl; 9 1/2 inches by 3 inches. The walls are uniformly 3/8" thick. I've turned some smaller bowls previously, but none of them turned out as nice as this one; in my opinion.

I gave our daughter a small bowl I made months ago, and I received her Christmas wish list. This is the first of what she would like.

I got the blank from a vendor on ebay, who called it figured maple. My teacher and I had no idea how beautiful this wood was until I rough turned it; tiger maple, spalting, birds-eye.

We rough-turned the blank and then let it soak in Turners' Choice wood stablizer (my teacher had a couple gallons in a bucket) for 24 hours and then let it drive for about a week (until I got back from my travels). The wood had barely warped during that period so it was very easy to do the final turnings. I sanded it down to 400 and then applied 4 coats of polyurethane, and then buffed it.

[Sean Hughto]

Great bowl! Well done.

I'd call 9 1/2" about "medium" sized. ;-)

[Pete Jordan]

Way to go, Dave!

You are well on your way to a wonderful journey.

[Roger Chandler]

Super! Really nice work there on a nice piece of figured wood! Congratulations on your effort!

[Tim Rinehart]

Super nice job, I hope it was fun to turn. Maple typically is. If you get a chance to get more of that wood, look at the gallery of our Moderator Steve Schlumpf. He has done some exceptional work with dying his work, and the figured wood lends itself extremely well to the treatment.
Takes a good bit of practice to get 'good' at it...but you may be one of the few which make it look easy after trying.

No hurries with that, concentrate on having fun turning and making clean chips.

If I were to have suggested anything at all with your piece, many would suggest that from a perspective, the base 'looks' best when no more than about 1/3 of the diameter in it's own size. Going smaller is too unstable and doesn't look balanced, but going bigger as with yours, does lend itself to more practical stable use. If I'm going a direction in size for a bowl I intend to use...it would be bigger as yours was.

Your finish looks great by the way.

[John Keeton]

Nice work, Dave, and a very nice chunk of wood. I would be interested in your thoughts on the Turners Choice - there was a recent thread on the topic, and more input is always helpful.

[David E Keller]

That's a wonderful bowl. Nice form and great finish. The wood is certainly 'figured'.:D

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your finshed work.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking bowl. That is some really nice wood. They only get easier from here. I agree with a medium size bowl. Welcome to SMC.

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Dave, I'd say that your lessons have paid off for you. It is very pretty wood. Some may not agree with this but have you tried buffing the bare wood before using the finish especially urethane and lacquer. Try it on a scrap and see the difference. Great Job, hope to see more.:)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dave - Welcome to the Creek!

That sure is a pretty bowl! Great looking the wood! Your daughter is going to love it!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Good looking figured Maple bowl Dave, well done :-))

[James Roberts]

Very nice Dave, I think you have the hang of this spinny thing. I'm sure your daughter will love her Christmas present but now you have to make a surprise since she probably knows about this one already. Back to the lathe man!

[David Christopher]

welcome to the creek, and thats a very nice bowl

[Dave Kartzman]

Thank you very much for all of your very kind remarks and the excellent suggestions. I sincerely appreciate it.

One of these days, when my technique is much better, I will try to turn more artistic bowls with smaller bases. I have a number of bowls to turn before Christmas for family, and hopefully I will be able to turn out results as good as this one appears to be.

John, my limited experience with Turner's Choice has been very positive. My teacher has been using it for a while with really superb results. He has been turning a number of wooden salad bowls for family members over the last couple of months. He rough turns them and then keeps them in the cedar solution for at least 24 hours, and then lets them dry for at least 3 days. I was just over there this afternoon, and he had two cherry bowls that had barely warped 1/16". I believe this wood was pretty green. He is very pleased with the results.

Again, my sincere thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. I look forward to being able to post more positive examples of my turning down the line.

Dave :)

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Creek Dave.
Lots of figure gong on in that piece of maple. Nice find..
I'm sure your daughter is going to love her xmas present. Great job.