Question for turners...

[Joe Suelter]

I realize that it probably makes no difference, but when mounting a bowl blank, how do you orient the grain, on a plain-sawn blank. Do you make the growth rings point outward, away from the faceplate, or inwards, towards the faceplate? Does it make any difference in the look of the finished product? I have always wondered this, can't find any definate answer. Thanks for your input.

[Joe Suelter]

First time posting a pic, can't believe how easy it was...Thanks Ken for your directions!

[Dan Barber]

If this makes any sense as I explain it, it'll be a miracle :) .

Usually a bowl blank is made by splitting a log twice lengthwise down the center, this leaves two halves of the log and a small plank cut directly from the center of the log. This will result in two bowl blanks and the plank which will contain the "pith" or heart of the tree. You don't want the pith to end up in the rim of the bowl as this will usually break out after drying commences.

If you look at the end of the log, the ends of the growth rings that have been cut will end up facing the chuck. Imagine the shape of the bowl superimposed on the end of the blank and you'll see that the bottom of the bowl would end up closest to the bark and the rim of the bowl would face the cut side. The simple reason for this is that you will get the largest possible bowl from the blank in this manner.

If you have a particularly large blank, you could turn it the other direction and still get a reasonable sized bowl from it. I have done this from time to time to maximize a feature or figure.

Hope this helps.

Dan

[Richard Allen]

Hi Joe

You can do it either way. you can even do it on a bias if you like. And each way you mount the blank will result in different paterns.

As Dan said most bowls are turned with the rim near the pith and the bark near the foot. As Dan said this is as much because you can get the largest bowl out of a log that way as any other reason.

Many frigured woods will have more figure near the bark than the pith. So to maxamize the figuer these blanks will be turned with the rim towards the pith.

Crotch wood has most of it's figure at the piths so it is best to turn such a blank with the foot nearest the piths.

Woods with a lot of difference between early season growth and late season growth you will find the growth rings to center down to the bottom when the foot is near the pith. With the rim near the pith you end up with the figure 8 growth ring patern.

Of course you can also turn a bowl end grain. This can produce yet another striking growth ring patern. If doing an endgrain turning expect the bowl to crack from the pith. If you turn the endgrain bowl thin and deep the bowl will elongate toward the pith.

There are a lot of options with how you mount a blowl blank. Each option can make a difference in how the bowl looks. The basic bowl is with the rim near the pith and the foot near the bark.

Thanks

[Joe Suelter]

Dan & Richard, makes sense to me. I think I remembered reading that somewhere, maybe Bill Gumbine's website? Anyway, thanks a lot for clearing that up for me, I just scored 5 bowl blanks from a local lumber-mill, and although rather small (3x8x8), I will definitally learn from these...I got 5 bowl blanks roughly this size for $20, tax included. This may not be a great deal, but I'm used to paying WoodCraft that amount for 1 blank that size. I got some elm, basswood, silver maple, and 2 Kingwood? (never heard of this one, that's what the guy called it though...will have to do some research on it). This is a fairly dense wood, light in color, with quite significant growth rings. They are almost identical, so I think I'll experiment with these two as far as mounting them, to see the difference in orienting the grain. Thanks again!

Can't wait to make some wood chips!

[Terry Quiram]

Did you see my private response last week about Peoria Woodclub?

Terry

[Gary Hern]

Hello Joe,

Truth is, you can go either way you want. Each individual piece will have it's own character and should be treated as such, especially if there is a desirable trait you wish to bring out in your piece. I turn a lot of my walnut with the pith side of the blank at the rim of the bowl when I leave the sap wood on. Personally, I like the look of it this way. On hollow forms where I'm leaving the sap wood as a design feature, I'll do the opposite.
I'm posting a picture of the latter description to give you a better idea. On red heart, I like to turn my hollow forms with the pith at the top. Seem to get some nice yet subtle grain variations that way. I guess to sum it up, make the best use of either your wood or your grain pattern (whichever serves you best).

Gary Hern



Originally posted by Joe Suelter
I realize that it probably makes no difference, but when mounting a bowl blank, how do you orient the grain, on a plain-sawn blank. Do you make the growth rings point outward, away from the faceplate, or inwards, towards the faceplate? Does it make any difference in the look of the finished product? I have always wondered this, can't find any definate answer. Thanks for your input.

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Joe

Just to add a bit to the discussion, I put the pith side at the rim of the bowl for what I call a "maximum yield" bowl - that is, the largest bowl I can get out of a piece. If I am turning a natural edged bowl. I flip the piece so that the bark side is where the rim will be.

If you blanks are squared off all around, more than likely it doesn't matter which way you do it. This holds true especially for very large trees. Dominic Greco and I cut up a huge cherry tree last year. I slabbed a 4" slice off one of the halves I got, and ended up with four 12" bowls out of that slice alone. Since the grain was almost straight up and down, I didn't worry too much about how they went on the lathe. For smaller trees with tighter curves, there is a bit of a differene in appearance, but it all changes, as Gary says, from log to log.

Have fun with those blanks, and we will look forward to seeing some of your efforts.

Bill

[Joe Suelter]

Hi Bill. Was that the cherry tree that you guys posted pics of on the Pond? If so, man was that a big tree!! If I remember right you filled up a couple of truckloads from that tree! Thanks for the tips everybody.

[Bill Grumbine]

Joe, that was the tree. I still have some prety nice sized chunks from it.

Bill