Help please

[Ray Bell]

This is an Aussie burl purchased from Issac. After seeing the beautiful work of Frank Atta, and other on these I know there is a lot of potential here. I am looking for thoughts/ideas on what to do with with this. I would like to keep this as natural, and as large as possible. My first thoughts are to grind a flat on the on the bottom, and either drill a spigot, or use a screw chuck. Then turn the flat side as the inside of the bowl with a wide rim. The problem then would be what to do with the outside. How would I get this cleaned up?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

This measures 17" x 41/8"

[Paul Douglass]

My thought, give it to Paul! I certainly can't help you Ray. Well beyond my current abilities.

[David E Keller]

Lots of ways to go with that piece. If you are looking to turn a bowl form similar to the position you show in the fourth picture, I'd mount it on a screw chuck in the flat face, turn the outside and form a tenon, and then reverse it in a chuck for hollowing.

I would strongly consider turning an irregular, somewhat broad rim if you orient it that way. If you got a coring rig, you could get a smaller bowl or two from the center of that piece.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[bob svoboda]

Wow Ray...that's some burl. I'll echo what David says. I don't know if you have a coring setup, but it would be a shame to leave the bulk of that hunk in chips on the floor of your shop. Hey, is Connie still in Hawaii.......................? I'm thinking McNaughton or some such :D

[Richard Madden]

Ray,
Sorry I can't help with your questions, but whatever you decide to do, why don't you take some pictures along the way. I will be doing something similar and I, for one, would like seeing WIP pics. Good luck!

[Frank Van Atta]

If it were me, here's what I'd do:

· Flatten/sand the top.

· Use a circle template to get an idea of the largest size the interior of the bowl can be and them mark the center and draw a guide circle for the inside. I use a plexiglass circle with a small hole in the center and inscribed with circles every half inch of radius to help me do this.

· Attach the face to a face plate/screw chuck. I use about a 3" diameter face plate and add blue tape and hot melt glue to ensure a good hold.

· Turn and finish the outside profile, including the base. This piece is close to round, so I visualize an ogee shape with a natural rim. Results may vary once you get it on the lathe.

· Using a round blank at least an inch larger than the diameter of the finished base, mount it on another chuck or face plate and turn a recess that approximates the outside profile of the turned piece. Cover the outside of the bowl and the inside of the recess with blue tape. This will protect the finish on the burl and make removal of the rear chuck much easier.

· Mount the new piece on a tailstock chuck adapter or similar device and bring up to fit snugly against the burl. Add a few wedges as needed to make sure the burl will be stable. Now, add a lot of hot melt glue to hold the two pieces and wedges together. I normally use 3 or 4 sticks of glue. The depth of the recess is usually on the order of 1 to 1 1/2" so that you can still use calipers to gauge the thickness of the upper part of the wall as you turn. (Make sure to measure the total height of the burl from flat top to the bottom of the base before you glue it into the recess chuck so you know how deep you can go with the interior of the bowl.)

· Remove the screw chuck from the top (if you used blue tape/hot melt glue to help hold the piece, douse the glue/tape junction between the face plate and the burl liberally with DNA; let sit for about 10 seconds or so, then you can fairly easily peel the tape from the two surfaces). You need to take care here not to put any more strain on the rear chuck than necessary.

· Remount with the rear faceplate/chuck/whatever and turn and finish the inside. Remove the rear chuck using DNA as above. A light buffing or full Tripoli/White Diamond/Wax treatment and you're good to go.

That's the way I usually do it in order to keep as much of the original burl cap as possible - at least it may give you some ideas about how you want to proceed.

[Tim Rinehart]

Another thought, and there really are many things you could do with this.

I like doing the winged bowls with a burl cap. The top side of bowl being where the cut currently is, and a bonus if you can core a piece out first.

As to holding the piece on it's 'rounded' edge, you could surface it off by doing the following, which I've done with natural edge pieces.

- With a faceplate on the lathe, position the piece on the faceplate (no screwing to it necessary) and bring the tailstock live center to the rounded side, positioning the piece how you want it centered to the faceplate. This gives you greater freedom to see where the center of mass for the piece is, and to get the most out of it too.

- Apply solid pressure to the piece and take light cuts to true up an area about 3" in diameter, or whatever size you want for wasteblock and your chuck of choice. Looking at the size of that burl, I'd perhaps stay closer to 2" or so, using a smaller chuck. Be sure it's flat as can be with a straight edge, esp the outer edge. I sometimes let the outer 1/4" or so do the work with the glue, and not get crazy trying to keep entire area flat and true. Makes parting easier too.

- Glue the wasteblock on, chuck it, and be sure to keep cuts sharp and light and a tailstock applied as much as you can.

Good luck, can't wait to see what you do with it.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks everybody, all good ideas except for maybe Paul's:)
Bob, Connie (and Paul's wife) are home now. Unfortunately I don't own a coring system, and why would you be thinking McNaughton's...too early to start drinking!