Curved bowl blank: Which way is up?

[Aaron Buys]

So I now have few bowls under my belt and I think I'm ready for the blank I've been asked to turn for a friend's dying father (no pressure right?) I think I've decided on using a glued waste block so I don't lose much of the wood as its only 2 3/8 thick. My first instinct was to turn the bowl so shape of the bowl follows the grain (see pencil line) but, as you can see from the pictures its quite warped the other direction. Should I turn this bowl with the warp or against the warp based on where the grain is running?

Also - glue choices are CA Glue, Epoxy, Gorilla Glue. Recommendations?

[David E Keller]

Cool piece of wood. Assuming it's now dry, I'd orient the piece so as to capture the most of the spalting, and I'd ignore the warp... It'll yield the same sized bowl either way.

I think any of the glues you mentioned will work as will titebond... I tend to use CA or 5 minute epoxy just for the speed.

I hope you'll post the finished piece!

[David Gilbert]

There are lots of others here at the Creek that have more experience than I do regarding bowl making. However, that won't stop me from making some comments.

I would tend to put the pith at the bottom of the bowl. I think that puts the bottom of the bowl on the bottom in your second and third pictures and on the top in the first. The warp isn't an issue since you will turn it away. If you have a handplane you can plane the bottom flat and smooth and glue on your block. I have rarely used a glue block but from my flatboarder days, I prefer Titebond to the other glues. Since you will turn it off it shouldn't be a problem.

However, before you start turning I would suggest that you find a similar sized piece of wood and do a test run. If this spalted piece is the only one that you have from your friend then doing a practice piece makes a lot of sense. That way you can figure out the shape and wall thicknesses that you want. I just took a lovely little piece of crotch pear and cut the bottom of the side down to about 1/64th of an inch. That might be OK if the rest of the bowl wasn't about 1/8 inch thick. My experience is that practice rarely makes perfect in turning but it certainly improves the result. Good luck with the project.

Please share some photos along the way as well as the completed object. I'm sure that your friend will appreciate your efforts.

Cheers,
David

[Bob Hamilton]

Look at the face of the blank, not the end or edge. Whichever face has the prettiest grain or figure should become the bottom of the bowl. If you make the prettiest face the top of the bowl then there won't be any of it left when the bowl is hollowed.

Take care
Bob

[Chip Sutherland]

I'm with Bob. You didn't provide any face shots but that's what I would look at to orient the wood to maximize the spalting after hollowing.

As far as glue, I typically only use TiteBond. I plan ahead so the 24hr drying time I allow rarely impacts my turning. I have turned after 4hrs of drying. IMHO....CA just doesn't handle lateral/rotation stresses well. So a catch will certainly test your CA glue bond. I've never had TiteBond fail. I have only had a couple of times when the waste block TiteBond bond failed....all of which I think were face grain to face grain bonds.

[Reed Gray]

What Bob says, the best looking surface goes on the bottom so you can see it best. For me, there is a crack off the pith. If you use a waste block, it won't really matter for turning purposes, but if you use a chuck with a tenon or recess, the crack is a weak spot, so I would have it on top. If you use a waste block, make sure your gluing surfaces are flat. Most of these glues have little or no gap filling ability. Tite Bond, left to dry over night will give the most secure grip. If you use thick CA glue, it will hold fairly well, and again, I prefer to let it cure over night. If you use an accelerator, it does speed up the curing time, but can be a bit brittle.

robo hippy

[Aaron Buys]

Thanks guys. I glued it up last night about midnight with some Gorilla Glue after truing up both the waste block and bowl surface so I got a good match between the two. Now comes the 24 hour waiting game =(. The glue which pressed out from the joint seems very hard but I would hate to loose the piece because I couldn't be patient. My friend leaves to see her father around 10am Saturday but I won't be able to get to the blank until after work tomorrow due to the curing time. Looks like its going to be a late Friday night!

[John Hart]

Aaron, if you do find yourself friday night with a flying blank across the shop, you can re-glue it up with 5 minute epoxy and be rolling within an hour. If you want to be extra diligent...be sure to snug up your tailstock to the blank prior to starting....especially during the initial rough stuff when the glue takes the most pounding.