Wolf Kiessling
12-13-2003, 3:03 PM
I was working on my new magnolia bowl this morning and I thought I might share this tip just in case there are readers here who don't know about it. It concerns finishing bowls while they are spinning on the lathe. I read about it somewhere earlier in the year, I think on WC but am not sure so I can't credit the originator of this, but I have done my last dozen or so bowls in this fashion.
I usually use some kind of oil for finishing so what I have done is put the oil into one of those mustard squeeze bottles. I get the lathe spinning, stand behind it, hold a folded paper towel on the side of the bowl away from me and slowly squeeze the oil onto the spinning bowl. It is just such an easy and convenient way to apply the finish and by doing it in this fashion you don't even get the splashes that result when you apply something to a spinning piece. I used to apply the finish with a brush or an oil soaked rag and it was a big mess. The folded paper towel catches the oil as it is slung off the bowl and, of course, also helps distribute it on the surface. I have two big streaks of oil on my shop floor, both in front of and behind the lathe, where the oil used to spin off but that doesn't happen any more. It stays off my apron, also. One other good thing, when I finish I just twist the top of the mustard bottle shut and the oil keeps from evaporating or jelling up. I don't have to put it back into the original container any more to save it.
Anyhow, for those of you who finish on a spinning lathe, this is a really good way to accomplish that.
Wolf
I usually use some kind of oil for finishing so what I have done is put the oil into one of those mustard squeeze bottles. I get the lathe spinning, stand behind it, hold a folded paper towel on the side of the bowl away from me and slowly squeeze the oil onto the spinning bowl. It is just such an easy and convenient way to apply the finish and by doing it in this fashion you don't even get the splashes that result when you apply something to a spinning piece. I used to apply the finish with a brush or an oil soaked rag and it was a big mess. The folded paper towel catches the oil as it is slung off the bowl and, of course, also helps distribute it on the surface. I have two big streaks of oil on my shop floor, both in front of and behind the lathe, where the oil used to spin off but that doesn't happen any more. It stays off my apron, also. One other good thing, when I finish I just twist the top of the mustard bottle shut and the oil keeps from evaporating or jelling up. I don't have to put it back into the original container any more to save it.
Anyhow, for those of you who finish on a spinning lathe, this is a really good way to accomplish that.
Wolf