3rd bowl

[Chance Raser]

So I tried a natural edge bowl. Turned out decent I think. I am not surprised by the cracking, the log had started to crack already. I had used end seal but that didn't stop it.

Over night it ovaled, 4-1/4" x 5-1/4" wide, 2-1/4" tall. C&C welcome.

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[Chris Gunsolley]

Chance,

Isn't it exciting to delve into natural-edge bowls? How did you turn the profile? For example, did you drill a hole with a forstner bit then put it between centers, or somehow attach a faceplate, or what?

I've experienced the same, unfortunate cracking in green wood while turning it, and here's the valuable preventative method that I learned: To prevent the cracking while you're turning it, keep a spray bottle of water next to the lathe while you're turning it, and make sure the wood always stays wet. That means every couple of minutes, soak the 'bowl' with the spray bottle, especially end grain on both sides. This works, and it doesn't take much time. I learned this the first few times I turned black walnut that was green. The cracks were literally forming on the end grain while I was turning it. I reasoned that if the wood was cracking because it was drying too fast, I'll keep it wet! I tried the spray bottle method and haven't had a single problem like that since.

At this point, if I were you, I'd gather as much light-colored 'sawdust' from your shavings where you turned this bowl--the powdery stuff from your finishing cuts--in a plastic container or something like that. Then, fill a section of a crack with that, then saturate the filling in thin CA glue. Once that's dry, move on to the next section of the crack along its line and repeat until you've filled all cracks. Once it's all dry, sand it smooth with a random orbit sander to your desired grit. If you do this, the crack will be only visible if you look closely at your bowl. If you don't have thin CA glue, and only have super glue with its common consistency, it may work better to first fill the crack with the glue, then stuff the sawdust into the crack immediately before the glue dries, then layer it on there until the area where the crack is bulges out more than the surface of the bowl.

As far as form, I'll just give you this general piece of advice. Do what makes you most excited. Go where you find the most intense inspiration. Good job turning your first natural edge bowl!

[Reed Gray]

Good effort. Only comment is that for a once turned bowl, it is a bit thick. I try to keep them to about 1/4 to 3/8 inch. Much more than that, depending on the wood, and you run into cracking issues, or maybe more cracking issues than on thinner pieces. Keep it up!

robo hippy

[Chance Raser]

Good effort. Only comment is that for a once turned bowl, it is a bit thick. I try to keep them to about 1/4 to 3/8 inch. Much more than that, depending on the wood, and you run into cracking issues, or maybe more cracking issues than on thinner pieces. Keep it up!

robo hippy

I always appreciate rules of thumb and advice, and I mostly kept within this one. Really only the highest part of the rim is thick, this pic is representative of the lower 80% of the bowl.

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With this bowl I liked the thicker edge up top to show more bark. I'll stick with more consistent thickness throughout in the future.

[Dok Yager]

Nice effort on your third bowl. I agree with Reed, I try to keep them thin as they tend to crack. Seal up the crack with some epoxy and let it harden for a couple of days and turn it down thinner not going too fast. Sand and repeat.