ash ne bowe - critique welcome

[steven carter]

Natural edge ash bowl, anchor seal dried. 7" x 4.5". Sanded to 600 finished with friction polish. So far everything I've done I've finished with friction polish. The results have been good so far, but I'm wondering about durability. Everyone that looks at them want to hold them, I think that is a good thing. I get alot of feedback myself when I feel them as well as looking at them. Any suggestions about other finished I might try?

[Neal Addy]

Looks good! You guys are really turning me into a fan of NE pieces. The only thing I'd do differently is shrink the foot.

You're not alone... friction polish is what most folks start out with but durability can be an issue. Particularly if the piece is handled often. I'm partial to Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal (General Finish products). Lots of folks here get great results with Minwax Antique Oil. Another favorite is Watco (Danish Oil). Waterlox gives great results as well.

Try experimenting with a few of these and see which one you like.

[Raymond Overman]

Nice looking bowl Steven. As for finishes, I currently like Deft spray lacquer or a boiled linseed/mineral spirits/varnish mix followed by a buffed wax but if the friction polish works for you, stay with it.

As for critique, the natural edge looks nice and it looks like you have a good even thickness in the walls. The curve into the bottom looks nice. I would say that the foot is a little on the heavy side for something that shouldn't be used as a utilitarian piece but overall it's still a nice shape. Try continuing the curve a little further or eliminating the foot all together to lift the natural edge a little more. Overall, a nice looking piece of ash there. Good job.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Yeah, friction polish is "ok" if it's not going to be handled.. but after seeing what others on this forum have done with oil and buffing, it's kinda got me wondering why I've been spraying everything with lacquer and polyurethane.. anyway.. Great natural edge.. I like all the NE pieces.. in the way of critique, the foot seems too big.. I know you wanted a good bevel to grab with that chuck, but it just seems too big for the size of the bowl.. Other than that, it looks great. Ash is really nice lookin' wood.. and remember... "The finest pieces show no evidence of how they were ever mounted on the lathe."..

[Paul Engle]

Well, you nailed the shape , now the foot and tear out. try a recess instead of a tennon, leaves a flat spot but does not get in the way of the shape or a really narrow , shallow tennon, and sand sand sand. tearout is very evident in pics as it causes the light to reflect differently and becomes obvious. practice makes perfect.keep at it ...your " lookin good":D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Steven that is a very nice NE. Nice work. I usually use Minwax Antique Oil, Watco Teak Oil or Watco Danish Oil on mine.

[Ken LaSota]

I have started using mineral oil and then buffing with carnuba wax and works great. I have also taken a bar of parrafin wax and melted it with a bottle of mineral oil and when it cools down just apply it and buff.
Ken

[Steve Schlumpf]

Steven - nice looking bowl!

Lots of good advice so far and have to agree with others that the bowl would look better if the foot was smaller. As far as a finish, I have had good success with Watco, Minwax and General finishes. They are easy to use - so try them all and see what works the best for you.

Only other suggestion would be on the photos - if possible, try to take very detailed/focused photos as it helps us provide accurate critiques.

Overall, I like your bowl. Looks like a consistant wall thickness and you did a good job of keeping the bark intact. Nice work!

[Mark Pruitt]

Steven, nice job on the NE. I would offer two suggestions. The first is a smaller foot as others have stated. Second, when you first mount a blank between centers to begin roughing a NE, I think it's good practice to align the upper points of the wings, even if doing so means mounting the blank a bit cock-eyed. The lower points, or "dips," aren't quite as critical, but aligning the upper points gives the piece a pleasing symmetry.

It is OK though to go in the completely opposite direction and have the wings way out of alignment, then you can say it was a part of the design.;)

About finishes: Watco is my favorite. It's almost foolproof, as long as you allow it to cure before buffing. For a low sheen I like linseed oil.

EDIT: When I said "Watco" I meant Watco Danish Oil. I forgot that Watco actually makes other products.:o

[Jonathon Spafford]

Looks great... woods nice and curly, the thickness is great for this kind of piece, the finish is beautiful, but as everyone else has said if you had just sized down the foot it would add a more delicate look! Really nice work though!

[Jim Becker]

Very nice ash piece. Nice rim and the material seems to be well-centered...something that's important to the "balance" of natural edge turnings. The one thing that would greatly improve it would be for the large flat foot to be removed. It would restore the flow of the curve and make it a more elegant turning. If you wanted to make this change, this piece could easily be remounted with a jam chuck (between centers) and the base turned off to flare in the curve as well as provide for a slightly undercut base for stability on the shelf.

[Patrick Taylor]

Regarding finishing... I'm pretty new, and I was using liberon friction polish and wax for everything. At my mentor's suggestion I tried watco danish oil and wipe-on polyurethane. The oil is great, but the poly I hate. Instead, I bought a buffing system because I liked the buffed wax finish from the liberon set. I think this will be more durable, and the buffing wheels allow me to do some hand sanding, etc. before applying a finish. (the on-lathe polish method required me to keep it on the lathe until it was polished, waxed and buffed.) So far I love the buffing wheels.

[Dennis Peacock]

Well, I can't add any more to this and I also agree about the foot needing to be smaller.

[Joseph Peacock]

That's one beutiful bowl Mr.Steven!:rolleyes::cool::D