Stephen Hibbs
03-16-2006, 7:36 PM
This is a piece of ironbark eucalyptus, 6.25" at widest, 2.75" tall; the walls are around 1/4" thick. My first bowl on the home lathe, and this was some hard, dry wood, being dry eucalyptus. It took me over 3 hrs to get it roughed out (I was using a parting tool to rough it, and it kept catching and stalling the spur center, plus it bent my tool so I had to grind it the other way) Then I flattened the bottom and attached a glue block, attached the faceplate and turned it almost completely done, so I decided to shave the glue block down in in preparation of cutting it off once I had sanded the bowl. However, the top rim was uneven, so I decided to touch that up, and broke the inch thick piece attaching it to the faceplate, sending said bowl bouncing.
I sanded the bottom down once more, put on a new glue block, re-rounded the bowl as far as I dared, and sanded it. I then finished it, and put extra finish by hand on the parts where I couldn't sand it well (due to the unevenness of the remounted bowl) and hand sanded the bowl a few times. I don't know how many hours I put into this, but I would say a good 7 or 8. Not too shabby for my second bowl though. I now use a roughing gouge to do the roughing with much better effect, and I have a grizzly chuck on the way.
I like the red in the wood and all the character it has, people at my school seem to think the wood coloration has something to do with my skill :D , I assure them this is not so. I can't get my favorite angle to compress, so here's a pic that obeyed.
34063
I sanded the bottom down once more, put on a new glue block, re-rounded the bowl as far as I dared, and sanded it. I then finished it, and put extra finish by hand on the parts where I couldn't sand it well (due to the unevenness of the remounted bowl) and hand sanded the bowl a few times. I don't know how many hours I put into this, but I would say a good 7 or 8. Not too shabby for my second bowl though. I now use a roughing gouge to do the roughing with much better effect, and I have a grizzly chuck on the way.
I like the red in the wood and all the character it has, people at my school seem to think the wood coloration has something to do with my skill :D , I assure them this is not so. I can't get my favorite angle to compress, so here's a pic that obeyed.
34063