Recent work: plywood bowl

[David Brimm]

Had some spare time this weekend and decided to play around with something different.

Made simple bowl of glued up plywood (about 12 pieces of 3/4") for a 10x10x5" blank. I turned it then stained it with a homemade foodcoloring based dye and then sealed with shellac.

This thing was an itchy beast to turn and I couldn't get as nice a smooth finish as I would have liked but it was interesting nonetheless.

203577

[Marty Eargle]

I've seen some interesting stuff made out of simple plywood lately and this is no exception. I will agree that it isn't pleasant at all to turn, as I turned a piece round one time for a project. I hope that color holds up, I think its a good match with the grain.

Good work!

[curtis rosche]

5min epoxy will help get a smooth finish. i did a number of peices from ply beam and paralam beam. take a beating on the tools and sand paper but always looks cool. fill the holes in with epoxy before sanding, then go back with a round nose scraper and shear cut, you will need to sharpen it about every inch or so of cutting epoxy to touch up the blade.

[David Brimm]

5min epoxy will help get a smooth finish. i did a number of peices from ply beam and paralam beam. take a beating on the tools and sand paper but always looks cool. fill the holes in with epoxy before sanding, then go back with a round nose scraper and shear cut, you will need to sharpen it about every inch or so of cutting epoxy to touch up the blade.

I'll give that a shot if I make another one of these.. I have a bottle of the stuff right there next to the lathe and I didn't even think about it. Ooops... :-)

[David Brimm]

I've seen some interesting stuff made out of simple plywood lately and this is no exception. I will agree that it isn't pleasant at all to turn, as I turned a piece round one time for a project. I hope that color holds up, I think its a good match with the grain.

Good work!

Thanks Marty.. I've never tried using food coloring based dye before, is there a problem with it holding up?

[John Keeton]

David, the food coloring, and the fabric dyes, are probably not very light fast. If you want lasting color, you will need to get some of the printer's inks, metal acid dyes, Transtint, Transfast, luthier dyes, etc.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really a nice looking piece. I did a couple of those just for fun. They are pretty hard on tools and a bear to get smooth.

[jared herbert]

I have made a few bowls like this. they look different, people like them and are fascinated by them but I dont really care for turning them. I just left the voids etc, the comments I have received have all been positive about them. Jared

[David Brimm]

David, the food coloring, and the fabric dyes, are probably not very light fast. If you want lasting color, you will need to get some of the printer's inks, metal acid dyes, Transtint, Transfast, luthier dyes, etc.

Ah, thanks for the heads up John I had no idea. I'll add some decent dyes to my vortex-list I suppose...