A little over my head, advice needed with a large bowl

[Moses Weisberg]

With a triumphant "let's see if I can max out my lathe" I embarked on a rather large box elder bowl. It can swing on my lathe, and after some sandbagging, doesn't bounce around, but my tool rest (12") is too small to get at the lower sides and bottom. The upside is that there's some nice burl in it.
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Any recommendations? Do I need to rig up a really long rest to reach, and how long before the leverage gets to be too much?

[Dennis Ford]

A fairly long rest that is curved to the right would help a lot. How long "is too long" is difficult to predict; make the rest strong and use small tools gently should keep you out of trouble.

[curtis rosche]

You couldve chucked it from the inside of the bowl before you got too deep, done the outside profile, then reversed and turned the inside. Thats what I do on my lathe

[Jon Prouty]

Looks like you are on a faceplate... To finish thw bottom, remove the faceplate (with bowl) from the lathe and slide the banjo to the headstock and remount your bowl. The inside should be fine with the overhang a few inches - use the largest bowl gouge you have to take care of the bottom inside.

Jon

[Moses Weisberg]

To clarify, I've got the bowl in a chuck. My issue isn't the bottom of the bowl, but the bottom of the inside. I'm having a go with a 5/8" gouge, but still have too much overhang. I'm probably going to fab up a new rest.

[Don Bunce]

I drilled holes in my tool rest and added a length of pipe to extend the reach.

[Reed Gray]

Well, it might be a bit late, but Robust and Oneway make inside bowl rests that would get most of the way inside there. I prefer the Robust, not just because of the hardened drill rod on it, but because it is more sturdy. To reach out as far as you will need to with this one, with a 5/8 inch gouge, with plenty of experience, you can go 4 inches or so fairly safely, but beyond that it is really risky. If you have any hollowing bars, 3/4 inch with 3/8 inch cutter in the end max, then you should be able to control it that far out. You won't get as nice of a finish cut, and have to spend more time with the 80 grit, but you can make safer cuts. One problem with the straight rests is that you have to reach out farther off the tool rest to make cuts, and they don't extend out far enough.

robo hippy

[Jamie Donaldson]

And now it begins, as the demands of a new project shows the need for purchase of a new tool! Over the years I have collected a gang of assorted tool rests, and when you need them, you need them! The demands of the vortex!

[David C. Roseman]

And now it begins, as the demands of a new project shows the need for purchase of a new tool! Over the years I have collected a gang of assorted tool rests, and when you need them, you need them! The demands of the vortex!

The nice thing is, every single new tool pays for itself with the first use. :)

David

[Moses Weisberg]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm going to make another tool rest with some curve in it to reach down to the bottom. I'll post pictures when I can.

[Brian Kent]

Just curious - what kind of lathe do you use?

[charlie knighton]

looks like jet 16 x 42, can not tell motor size, comes in 2 hp or 1.5 hp

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I've used my bowl scrapers quite a ways off the tool rest to reach into the bowl bottoms. I think its a little safer than using a bowl gouge far off the tool rest. Farther than that, I use a hollowing bar and scraper tip.

[Mike Peace]

Of course another option is to make a shallower bowl. Perhaps the simplest in the short run as it does not require new tools. Oh. What am I saying? Fagetaboutit.

[john taliaferro]

I've used my bowl scrapers quite a ways off the tool rest to reach into the bowl bottoms. I think its a little safer than using a bowl gouge far off the tool rest. Farther than that, I use a hollowing bar and scraper tip. Yes get back up on top of the banjo before it bounces and breaks ,its good practice for hollow forms anyways .

[Marc Himes]

Using a captured or stabilized hollowing system may work if you have one.