Are There Issues With This Process Or Is It Me?

[Dick Wilson]

Watched a video on YouTube. Very interesting turning. I have very little experience using a glue block but it seems to me this is not a good piece to be using one...too much of the time he is turning air. I have also never used the entire wing of a fingernail grind to turn with either. This is by far not the scariest video I have seen. 3 Part Video

My Holey Cherry Bowl Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SedEIxyEODo)

[Nate Davey]

It seems to be glued on pretty well by the looks of the catch he had on part two. Not sure it's something I would do, but it seemed to work for him

[Jim Burr]

That is one of the downsides to turning voided peices Dick...a percentage of the time, the gouge/tool is in the air. This will cause some people to increase speed a bit to decrease the amount of time that happens. As long as he had a good mating surface, a glue block is fine. I do think I would have gone to a more "normal" lathe however and I was looking for a way to get the tail stock in to play. Cool looking piece of wood!

[David E Keller]

It's an interesting piece of wood, but his technique and mine differ considerably. His cuts on the exterior with the gouge in the '12 o'clock' position would yield constant catches in my hands. I don't have any problems with the glue block, but I rarely use them except for miniature turnings. I agree with your assessment about scarier videos being available on youtube.

[Wally Dickerman]

Using a glue block on this chuck of wood works well. Use them a lot myself. Can't tell for sure but he doesn't seem to be wearing a face shield. A must for a blank of this type. His use of the gouge with the flute straight up and cutting with whole width of the swept back grind is a large catch waiting to happen. He seems okay with it but on a piece of wood like this, it certainly wouldn't be my choice. Just a small roll of the gouge and he would have a wide unsupported cutting edge presented to the wood.

[Rick Markham]

I got all excited when I heard "supper is ready!" He is right "very interesting piece of wood" I'm with David on this... his cuts on the exterior would yield less than satisfactory results if I attempted that method. I will say this, he appears to have some nice sharp gouges, and I think that probably saves him a couple of times in the video. We all have to start somewhere! There are definitely far scarier videos on Youtube. Turning voids is an interesting experience, especially when you find a fist sized void inside of a whole burl, it can be quite a surprise!

[George Overpeck]

I cut high up on the wing of my deep gouge like that sometimes, but not as a roughing cut, only as a finishing cut. That cut with the bevel at 45 degrees can leave a better finish through tear out and poor wood than shear scraping or a pushing cut with a deep gouge - it also takes longer to take the edge off the tool so you don't need to sharpen twice to put the best surface on an exterior. One advantage it has over a shear scrape is that it seems to not set off vibrations in off balance pieces the way shear scraping occasionally can. It's the same as everything else, plant the bevel and move the tool so that the edge comes into play.

I haven't had a real catch doing it because I'm usually pretty cautious, but it will occasionally pop out a little chunk of the side grain in a funny way - not jerking the tool into the cut but just ripping out a bit running down the grain. That's why it's kind of a last resort cut before I give up with the steel and break out the 120 grit.

[Jeff Nicol]

Dick, I have turned some crazy chunks of wood and the ones with lots of voids are some of my favorites. They are not for the faint of heart and the faster you can turn it the less you will notice the air turning. Like eveything some practice on a few small things with voids in them to get youi familiar with the process just like using the tools, practice whatever method you want to learn and when you feel comfortable with it then use it during your turning and it will become second nature to you. I have a video on youtube of me turning a big void filled maple burl and you can see what I had to do to make it safe to turn and take my time doing so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFJ7xON7BA0

Jeff

[Brian McInturff]

I can't say I would've used the bowl gouge like he did. Of course his hollowing technique seemed a little rusty too. What got me was in the Part 3 video when he said all he had to do was some sanding. Looking at how rough he left the outside he will need to start with a 25 or 36 grit. I'd love to have that blank he started with. Like others I love turning voids. Can't say I would've used a glue block but it's hard to say for sure without feeling the wood. I'd love to see the finished product.

[Dick Wilson]

Dick, I have turned some crazy chunks of wood and the ones with lots of voids are some of my favorites. They are not for the faint of heart and the faster you can turn it the less you will notice the air turning. Like eveything some practice on a few small things with voids in them to get youi familiar with the process just like using the tools, practice whatever method you want to learn and when you feel comfortable with it then use it during your turning and it will become second nature to you. I have a video on youtube of me turning a big void filled maple burl and you can see what I had to do to make it safe to turn and take my time doing so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFJ7xON7BA0


Jeff

Come on Jeff, you can get it thinner than that. What's the matter... get nervous?:D:D:D Hmmm, never turned half a bowl before. You mentioned turning at high speed so you don't notice it as much. Apparently 375 rpm is high speed for this piece. There is nothing in your video that makes me nervous. For some reason the other video does.
By the way, great looking bowl.