laser bowls

[Ernie Balch]

I made a few wood bowls using the laser to cut thin hardwoods as overlapping rings.
Of course it took some glue and sanding to assemble.

ernie

[Steve Busey]

Some interesting use of the laser & lathe, Ernie! I especially like the effect of the offset overlapping ovals on that last one. Must have been an alignment headache while you were gluing it back up!

How did you remove the laser char - sanding or sandblasting, or ??

[Ronald Erickson]

That's a really cool idea. Nice work! I suppose with the repeating layers you could cut multiple rings out of one piece of wood and reuse the centers for additional layers. A very practical way to utilize a board.

What was your solution for sanding the wood at an angle? Did you chuck it in a lathe to spin the bowl while sanding? Or just hand sand?

[Lee DeRaud]

Very nice! You just sanded them by hand or did you use a lathe?

I've done a few like your top row (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?58025-Spiral-Bowls-part-1)...need to try some of those "basket style".

[Joe Hillmann]

The last three that you have pictures of are very neat, mostly because they don't require any steps after gluing.

[Ernie Balch]

Sanding was done on a 12" disk sander with the table tilted to match the bowl sides. The wood was 5/32" walnut, jatoba, maple and cherry purchased from George at LaserArts.

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Oooo very nice, I especially like the last 3! :)

[Walt Langhans]

Yup... very cool. Thanks for sharing :)

[Jesse Anderson]

This is actually the first project i thought of prior to even having my laser..... When i ordered my machine i kept on thinking cutting out rings to make bowls. Then when i got my machine i cut out several rings. Glue them together. Then spent about 100+ hours sanding it with sand paper. It loooked awesome..


Ernie can i make a quick suggestion... After u put a coat of stain on them use some pour on epoxy.. to first coat the inside. Then to coat the outside. It takes a little bit of tinkering to get the epoxy figured out. If u try it out i promise u will come back and tell me that i was right

When you use the pour on epoxy u can purchase crappy wood and then when its all sanded and finished properly it rivals the look of a unfinished piece of African Endangered Albino Purple Root wood Bark. """If there is such a thing"" I am referring to exotic woods and desired woods.

[Ernie Balch]

interesting idea with the epoxy. We always have West Systems epoxy around for sign work. I'm sure it would strengthen my rather delicate bowls a great deal.

[Jesse Anderson]

pour on epoxy would strengthen them very nicely. When u put it it on the inside of the project u have to have something rotate it as to get a even coat.. So i used a Fan and set it on low. So when the epoxy is rolling in a circle motion it coats the inside evenly. I did the same for the outside of my project. I brushed it on while it was spinning around. Even if u put a thin coat of the stuff on it will always settle to the bottom. So it has to rotate. When u do the inside the finish looks like glass. And since the inside's are harder to sand. Its better to coat the inside. It looks nice. If i had my piece around i would show u. But i gave it to my parents and cut some things into the side of it. I actually vector cut some things into my bowl after the project was completed. That way u could put a candle into it and see the shadows of the images i cut into it.