My first turning (firewood bowl, a year in the making)

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

I'm an occasional poster in the neander section but new to turning. I started this months and months ago, roughed out a vague bowl shape but put it aside when I had a few catches. I never thought it would become an actual bowl, just an attempt to learn how to use the tools. Then, come Saturday, I'm in my shop, dawdling and trying hard to avoid cleaning my shop so I can work on a few MDF jigs (needed but not inspiring), when I glance over at the rounded chunk of firewood still on a glueblock on a faceplate over on a low shelf and a light goes off: Hey! If I try turning again I can just bury the mess under shavings instead of having to look at it (or, God forbid, actually tidy it up). I watched a few videos which got me around the mistakes I was making that led to scary catches when I first tried turning it then gave it a shot. I turned the glue block into a jam chuck to finish up the bottom.

315846


I like how it turned out overall, by which I mean it ended up bowl shaped when every moment it was spinning I expected it would, in the next moment, break or be gouged beyond saving by a catch. No finish on it yet. 4", wall is ~3/32" thick just below the, um, curve thing in the rim. Didn't realize it was so thin until I had it off the lathe and made a quick pair of S-shaped calipers to measure it - otherwise I would not have tried making it so thin. The majority of the wall is a little thicker.

I only have a shopsmith and my grandfather's unimat sl, but the shopsmith wins for this simply because it can hold something large enough to see :)

I'll certainly have questions to ask as I learn. That sucking sound you hear is me getting pulled into the vortex. I've got an 8" round about 3-4" thick blank mounted now, some incense cedar from a neighbor's tree (ex tree, that is). That's next.

[David Delo]

If that's your 1st bowl, I'm really going to enjoy seeing your 50th. Nice job for sure.

[daryl moses]

I would say for a first bowl you did great. Way better than my first that's for sure. Can't wait to see how your next one turns out.
Looks like cherry?

[Allan Ferguson]

A truly worthy bowl. Looks like the light is coming through it . One more good cut and you would have had a funnel. Allan

[Mel Fulks]

Most successful and attractive, take heart and confidence from it and start another one today.

[Bill White]

STOP NOW WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD!!!!!
Just jokin', 'cause that bowl is a great start.
Bill

[Doug Herzberg]

Looks great, especially for a first. Hold on to your wallet.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Hey, thank you for the encouraging and kind words! I think Bill has it right - I like the shape, but I am convinced it came about because I didn't expect it to work so I didn't bother to think about it. If I stop now, I'll have a nice success rate :)

You know, I thought the light was coming through too, in person. It looks even more so in real life but it is really just the light reflecting off the other side and back - since the light is coming in low from the side through the window. I had to check by waving my hand and watching the shadow. That's actually what made me measure the wall. I just heard back from my mom after she saw the photo I'd emailed her and she thought the same thing. I love the turned or veneered lampshades I've seen so maybe someday...

I'm now watching some videos to figure out how to make the cuts at the bottom better and how to deal with the tailstock in the way. I see why I've seen it referred to as the crack of woodworking: one bowl and I am hooked.

[Doug Ladendorf]

Very nice first bowl! I like the shape and the lip detail. Really well done.

[robert baccus]

Very, very nice work. Looking at them big lathes yet?

[Dok Yager]

Great first bowl effort! Looks nice, good form and a nice lip to it.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Thank you.
I would love a "big lathe," Robert's polite way of saying "real lathe." :) Most or all the negatives people point out about shopsmiths are true to various degrees. I'd say the two that are most accurate are that it is not a very good lathe and a terrible table saw. One big issue there is it is too tall for a table saw and too low for a lathe. Hmmm.

I've worked on my second bowl but have to shelve all woodworking until I can get a proper dust protection setup. This second one is incense cedar and man, do my lungs feel it! And that is without getting to the sanding stage. I'll post questions in a separate thread after reading up further. Bill Pentz' site is offline (google got a snapshot earlier yesterday, it was up then) so I'm reading it on archive.org. Dumb of me, to ignore the possibility of irritation from something with the word incense in the name and which makes me almost sneeze when I first turn it, and that's not to mention the really harmful small stuff I was ignoring in general.

I actually love the shopsmith, but only because they fit my situation just right. A simple version is: I'm broke and live in a shoebox so while I'd definitely prefer separate tools they're not an option for the foreseeable future. The accurate criticism that setup and tool swapping is a pain is less of an issue because I got a second "for parts" shopsmith with the first one that just had a jammed belt, and I've changed that one over to a dc motor with reverse so I can leave the planer and jointer attached full time, then the bandsaw on the other. I got the two with the planer and bandsaw, plus an as-yet unrestored scroll saw style jigsaw, for $250 off cl. I've added a jointer, speed reducer, replaced bearings and a few missing items like guards, oh, and the fantastic conical sanding disk, so I have perhaps double that again invested, but over a year's time.

The lathe was less a problem than I expected. The speed reducer I picked up because it was cheap (they're one of the few things that don't come up for sale regularly so I jumped at it) so larger stuff won't be as big an issue, and right now I have the planer and bandsaw on the one I'm using as a lathe so that is an extra 110 lbs or so. I do need a better tool rest, either a ~$50 used minor upgrade or the $200 new (the other thing you almost never see used) "universal tool rest" - basically a normal style banjo. I'd say it is necessary for real use as a lathe moving forward.

I could go on, but it does all come down to situation and desire. I found stripping the machines down to individual nuts and bolts and inspecting, cleaning, lubing, replacing etc. as needed very rewarding, and the lack of space is something I can't change. That said, if I was looking to get one primarily as a lathe I would find a used non-shopsmith lathe for less that was better overall.

As it is, I will eventually upgrade some things: the jointer is way too small at 4". The planer, on the other hand, is a wonderful beast. Bandsaw could be larger but works very well... table saw? what table saw. Oh, that meat slicer? what's that doing there, someone could get hurt! Put that back in the deli right away!

Not that you asked :)
I went into these details because the question seems to come up regularly and most answers come from people who would never use one, or shouldn't have got the one they got rid of in the end, or owners who are no more objective than the detractors.

[William Tanner]

Very nice. Can't wait to see another.

[Rob Matarazzo]

Gorgeous. I hope my first bowl turns out as well.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Thank you.

Now I'm stuck unable to turn until I figure out something to do to handle the dust. I've posted a question in the shops section and have read billpentz.com through but think I'll post a lathe-specific question in this section. My second bowl is mostly turned, still on the lathe. I am so impatient, the wait is killing me!

[Doug Ladendorf]

Wear a dust mask if nothing else. There are levels of protection and you can get frozen waiting for perfection.

[Stan Smith]

Looks like you had the interest all along but didn't recognize it for awhile. You couldn't bring yourself to be a quitter either. Good for you!

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

:)

And I'm at the computer to follow Doug's advice and order a 3M 7503 mask and filters. Means I'll be able to work on the second bowl. That and the next piece of the puzzle are my birthday present from wife and myself. Just haven't figured out if I'm better of with a big, whole house type window fan ($140) or making a cyclone and venting outside, using the largest cheap motor/blower I can find for 120v. I'm going to go post that as a separate thread so it it is more likely to help others searching by thread title later.

Thanks for all the encouragement! Next bowl will be ugly, broken or both, no doubt.