First Bowl (or maybe Cup)

[Kurt Aebi]

I finally attempted a bowl. I had a small piece of Box Elder from a tree that had fallen over the brook that borders our property. The neighbor from across the brook came over and was cutting it up for firewood and I asked if I could keep some for projects. There was a small streak of red and a big split, there is a little bit of the split left and the red is but a trace, but the grain and worm holes really give it character. I call it a bowl, but it is really cup sized and a fellow at work said I should make a pestil (spelling?) and call it a mortar instead of abowl due to the very rounded bottom. It is 3" dia., 2-1/8" high and 1-5/8" deep.

I am going to cut out a piece of Purple Poplar for the next one!

[Ed Lang]

I like it!

How did you mount it to the lathe?

How did you finish the bottom?

Did I say I like it:)

What finish and to what grit did you sand it?

[Karl Laustrup]

Nice looking bowl, Kurt. :)

I'm not sure that it would make a good mortar bowl, though. The box elder I have is very soft and dents easily. I made one of my flag cases from it and had to recut a piece because a itty bitty piece of something got under it while I was cutting it and left a pretty good indentation.:(
I will have to save up some pieces of box elder for you, although I don't have any pieces that could be turned as bowls. Having said that the pieces could be sandwiched to make a blank big enough to turn I guess. I've got a pretty good stash and a lot of it has the red in it and I'll be sure and save some.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Kurt,

It looks great! The small bowls that I have turned, have become small parts bowls around the shop. That bowl is too good for the shop, but it still would be handy on a dresser or by a sink. It looks great!

[Glenn Hodges]

Well, well Kurt good to see you have taken the plung. Nice start too. What type of finish did you use? I wish we had box elder down here in our neck of the woods, but what the heck. Keep this one, label it #1, and you will treasure it, believe me. Let us see #2 in a few days.

[Kurt Aebi]

Ed,

I have a Penn State Industries 4-Jaw Scroll Chuck. It has a Screw-adapter and I used that along with a live center to first make the block of wood a cylinder and then to turn a 2-1/2" x 1/2" tennon on the live center end. I then removed the piece from the screw and put the tennon into the chuck and brought up the live center into the screw hole and re-trued my piece. I then removed the live center and worked on the outside contour and then turned to the hollowing out of the middle. When I was satisfied with the inside and contour, I sanded to 600 grit, starting with 60 (the piece was real rough) and worked my way to the 600. I then applied a liquid friction polish (home brew made with BLO, Shellac, Mineral Spirits & Denatured Alcohol) to the inside and the outside down to near the tenon. I then removed the part from the chuck and changed the jaws to the set of Jumbo Flat Jaws that I bought along with the chuck and clamped the rim of the bowl to finish off the bottom. I used a skew to remove the tenon and then rounded over the edge and used a skew to do the recess. Sanded with 80 through 600 and applied the same friction polish as before and then went to the buffing wheel with my Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax. Applied and buffed 3 coats of wax until it looked good enough for me.

I used an old 1/4 HP electric motor and an arbor adapter to make my buffing wheel setup along with an old E-Stop switch from a scrapped out piece of equipment from work. Below is a picture of the setup.

I hope I was of some help to you, Ed.

Thanks for the kind words for my first attempt at a bowl.

[Ed Lang]

Kurt,

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I have a tallon chuck and also have a screw adapter, but have not used it yet. I do not have a larger set of jaws for it but have thinking I should either get a set or make a compression chuck so I can finish my bowls like you did. So far, I have been turning the wood in front of the tenon as small as I dare and then just part it off. I have used a dremel tool to gring off the spot that is left and finishing the bottom by hand. I like doing the finishing on the lathe better!

I have to make 4 more of my little circus trucks now for folks at work but then I'll get back to my mini lathe.... Gotta sell toy trucks so I can buy that next lathe :)

Take care and keep showing us you great work.

[Kurt Aebi]

Ed,

Check out Bill Grunbine's web site for how to make the compression chuck, he has a good article on the construction. You could also make your own Jumbo Jaws, like William Young did, I'll post pictures of his (If you do make these, remember to label each jaw with the position number on the chuck so you put them back on the same each time)

Or if you are handy with metal working, you could do like Jim Ketron and make them from aluminum. He had a post about these some time ago.