Bowl with Banding Inlay

[Barry McFadden]

I had a small piece of Mahogany laying around so I thought I would try turning a bowl and inlay a piece of wood banding in it...I'm happy with the way it turned out....

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[David Walser]

You should be happy with it. It looks fabulous. Care to share your process?

[Barry McFadden]

Thanks David....not really too much of a process...just a couple of critical points... I turn the outside of the bowl to the shape I want and then I used my 1/8" parting tool to cut a shallow groove around the bowl. The banding is 3/16" wide by about 3/32" thick. After I cut the initial groove of 1/8" X approx. 3/32" deep I start cutting one side of it a tiny bit wider so it will fit the banding exactly. I keep test fitting the banding and widening the groove until it's just wide enough so that I have to "gently" tap the banding into place with a hammer. I then mark on the banding where it meets the start point and take it back out of the groove and cut to length...better a bit long than too short. This is the other critical step as you want the finished length to be exact so you can't see where the joint is. I keep placing the banding back in the groove and checking the fit and sanding a bit off if necessary until I have the exact length. Once I'm happy with the length I just glue it in place with wood glue...because I tap it in place I don't really need anything to hold it down until the glue dries. After it's dry I sand everything flush and it's time to apply finish.......I'm working on one now with brass banding so I hope it turns out ok as well.....

[David Walser]

Thank you for the clear explanation.

[Curtis Myers]

Very nicely done.

[Thomas Canfield]

Nice piece. I it might be larger until seeing the 3/16" wide banding. The texture of the Mahogany is also a surprise look, but I like it.

[Matt Newton]

Very nice look. I tried this a while ago with some banding I got from my grandfather when he died. It just broke apart. How "fresh" was the banding you used?

[Barry McFadden]

Thanks Curtis, Thomas and Matt...for the comments...Matt..the banding was from Lee Valley and it was what was left of a company called Buffard Freres who made banding in the 1920's so I'm guessing it was not "fresh"...the bowl is about 5.5" across and the banding bent around it with no problem...I wouldn't want to try anything much smaller....