First Keeper Turnin'

[Steve Mathews]

It ain't much but this is my first turning that's a keeper. It's already filled with assorted nuts. I followed a process shown in one of Robo Hippy's videos by attaching a face plate, roughing it out and then creating a recess for the chuck. The recess I thought was rather shallow at about 3/16" deep but that's the way Reed did it. I then worked on the inside using a chuck and the tailstock at the beginning. The wood is dried maple and is the first time using something other than construction lumber. As mentioned before, what a difference a good piece of wood makes. Sanding turned out to be more challenging than expected. I tried to do it on the lathe by hand but after watching another of RH's videos I purchased a Milwaukee close quarter right angle drill and sanding setup from Woodturners Wonders. About 5 grades of grit were used out of the 8 purchased. RH was correct about it being so much easier. There are still imperfections in the finish but this one is a wrap. It seemed that when one imperfection was sanded away another one crept in. I have a lot more to learn about sanding for sure. Howards Feed-N-Wax was used to finish off the bowl. I have a lot to learn about that stuff too. Here's a few pics of the finished bowl.

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I didn't like the depth of the recess so I went back and made it more shallow. I think it looks better. Here is what it looked like before.

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[Leo Van Der Loo]

Certainly well done for a first, and you have learned things, next one will be easier and so you build up your experience, some will be failures, but you do learn from that as well :D

[William C Rogers]

Steve, nice job. Keeper for sure. Did you sign the bottom? Leo is 100% correct in both getting easier and some failures along the way. I like to turn maple and also like cherry.

[Robert Willing]

Great job Steve.:)

[daryl moses]

Good job, it looks really nice. It will get a little easier each time.
One suggestion.......unless that is a very small bowl the recess looks a bit large in diameter. For the greatest holding power the diameter of the recess should be just a tad larger than the smallest diameter that the chuck will go down to.

[Steve Mathews]

Good job, it looks really nice. It will get a little easier each time.
One suggestion.......unless that is a very small bowl the recess looks a bit large in diameter. For the greatest holding power the diameter of the recess should be just a tad larger than the smallest diameter that the chuck will go down to.

Yes, looking at it now I agree it would look nicer with a smaller diameter recess. It's actually the smallest possible with the chuck jaws used but come to think of it I have another set that are much smaller. I'll keep that in mind next time. Thanks!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Good job, it looks really nice. It will get a little easier each time.
One suggestion.......unless that is a very small bowl the recess looks a bit large in diameter. For the greatest holding power the diameter of the recess should be just a tad larger than the smallest diameter that the chuck will go down to.

That does not count for the standard Oneway jaws Daryl, they will hold well in their whole range, with only a slight improvement at that closed setting.

[daryl moses]

That does not count for the standard Oneway jaws Daryl, they will hold well in their whole range, with only a slight improvement at that closed setting.
I didn't realize that he used a Oneway chuck, I must of missed that somewhere.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I didn't realize that he used a Oneway chuck, I must of missed that somewhere.

If he hasn’t the Oneway, he will have to use what he has, and yes make the near exact opening for his jaws.