Richard Link
09-16-2007, 11:59 PM
Hello turning gurus. Well..it was a great weekend dropping into the vortex for real for the first time. I took a basic bowl turning class at Woodcraft on Sat and managed to turn a rather pregnant-appearing soup-like bowl out of green spalted pecan (photos censored to protect the innocent). Tons of fun but not exactly an artistic tour de force. That gem is currently drying in its paper bag home.
The real question is as follows. Today, flush from my green wood successes, I tried to turn a small bowl out of kiln dried curly maple. Ouch...the chips get hot with dry wood... Again, LOTS of fun and it came out ok. I was channelling the "cashew bowl" theme this time. To mount the bowl in the chuck, I turned a recess in the base. Not factoring the recess in my newbie depth calculations, I managed to turn the base extremely thin. So thin that you can see a little light shining through it when its placed close to a lamp. It also has a different tone when tapped. Oops.
Should I leave it as is and finish with oil/wax or should I "stabilize" the thin base by saturating it with thin CA glue? I rather like the way the base is currently and would prefer not to mess with it but I'll use the CA if you all think that it will strengthen what is likely to be a rather fragile base. What do people do when they turn something like a bowl or hollow form very thin to guard against breakage later?
Appreciate any input.
Rick
The real question is as follows. Today, flush from my green wood successes, I tried to turn a small bowl out of kiln dried curly maple. Ouch...the chips get hot with dry wood... Again, LOTS of fun and it came out ok. I was channelling the "cashew bowl" theme this time. To mount the bowl in the chuck, I turned a recess in the base. Not factoring the recess in my newbie depth calculations, I managed to turn the base extremely thin. So thin that you can see a little light shining through it when its placed close to a lamp. It also has a different tone when tapped. Oops.
Should I leave it as is and finish with oil/wax or should I "stabilize" the thin base by saturating it with thin CA glue? I rather like the way the base is currently and would prefer not to mess with it but I'll use the CA if you all think that it will strengthen what is likely to be a rather fragile base. What do people do when they turn something like a bowl or hollow form very thin to guard against breakage later?
Appreciate any input.
Rick