How to measure?

[Bonnie Campbell]

I know, probably a dumb question.... I've only made a couple NE bowls. I've an order for a 10" bowl. The other bowls I made were just made without worrying about the finished size. So how do I measure the rough log half to get my size needed?

[Tom Sherman]

Bonnie you can make a circle template out of cardboard or what ever you have around. Lay it on your log and draw out the circle. You could use a compas set to give you the size you need, that will also give you a center as well. Once you have your size marked out you can go to your band saw and trim off the excess, then on to the lathe. HTH

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Tom. I went to the appliance place and got a box for a dishwasher. I cut out circle templates from 4" to 16". I made a hole dead center on the template. You can center a 10" one on your log and use a screw to hold it in place. Go to the bandsaw and saw around your template and put it on the lathe.

[Kevin McPeek]

Really you can just throw a tape measure on the half log to know if it will be large enough. If its more than 10" in both directions (I'd go more than 11" just to be safe) you should be fine.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Lots of good advice - but have to agree with Kevin - you want to have your blank larger than the finished size cause you are going to lose a lot of wood when turning it to the required size.

[David Wilhelm]

If you look at the end of your precut you can get and idea of what if will make with a tape. I chainsaw @ the pith thne mark my center. then with a string held at the center and a marker held at a point on the string 1/2 the diameter of what i want to turn. I simply pull snug and mark my circle. Trim off edges with the chainsaw or band saw then mount to turn. My hat is off to you. I can't turn requested items to save my life. Nothing ever goes right. Best of luck.......Will

[charlie knighton]

I've an order for a 10" bowl


the customer is always right, better ask them how to measure it:D

[Dean Thomas]

I'm going to wade into this part of the water with great caution.

The whole point of the NE bowl is to capture bark or the nifty growth just below the bark, right? To that end, and with the hope of arriving at a bowl whose diameter is approximately some given size, you have to consider depth of said bowl in addition to mere diameter of the log, yes??

The cardboard thing works just fine. Some of us are a little thicker of head when it comes to imagining and conceptualizing. For a couple of bucks, you can purchase a square of 1/4" plexiglas or lexan (which doesn't shatter if you drop it; YCIMHIKT). Buy the square a little larger than the max your lathe can handle. If you have a 1642 lathe, you want a 17" square, okay?

Find the center of that nice CLEAR plastic. Using your metal legged dividers, draw (well, scratch) clearly visible concentric circles in 1" increments until you reach your lathe's limit (16" for that 1642 lathe mentioned above, but only to 12" for my 1236). Now, find a nail that's at least 1" long. Drill a hole in the center of the plastic that is slightly larger than the nail's diameter. You now have a see-through jig with which you can actually PLAN your NE bowl to take advantage of clefts, obvious inclusions, or to avoid other flaws and cracks if that's your choice.

Some folks also drill pencil-sized holes on each circle (even inches on the left and odd inches on the right so that you don't have all the holes in a row that could cause weakness in your jig). A nice long new pencil and you can mark the wood pretty handilly, the better to bandsaw it out, outside the marks that you've made.

If you had a 48" diameter tree and you had a 5" slab of it, you might end up with a 4.5" high NE bowl. If you have an 18" diameter tree and a 5" slab, you might end up with a 3.5" high (not deep!) NE bowl. If the tree/log was 13" in diameter the best you could hope for from a 5" slab (no pith) would be about 2.5" high.

For me, I really am glad I spent the couple of bucks so that I could better visualize and plan my bowls out of a given piece of wood.

All that being said, I don't DO NE bowls, frankly. Not something that trips my trigger, but the whole planning issue is still a biggie for me. Having the concentric circles also helps me when looking at the end grain to get a sense of how much leeway I have in planning for plate/bowl/vessel. I can see a basic bowl shape and can easily see what diameter and general shape vessel the wood might could yield.

Hope it helps.

[Jim Underwood]

I just cut the log off as long as the diameter, split it in half, then stick it on my circle cutting jig in the bandsaw, and that's how big it is.:p