HELP!!! I Can't seem to turn a Natural Edge Bowl

[ross russo]

Hey Ya'll,

Last night I attempted to turn my first natrual edge bowl. It "was" a piece of hickory with some beautiful worm holes, knots, and even a little bit of spalting. I was doing great with the form until the piece was approximately 1/4" thick. At which point it exploded (luckily I was wearing a shield and gloves - Safty First). I was using a sharp scraper (1/2") to clean up the inside when the exposion happened. Was i using the wrong tool, wrong angle of attack, or just maybe unlucky enough to have caught one of the worm holes or knots the wrong way? Any thoughts, suggestions, comments would be great. I have only been caught in the vortex for about 6 months and learning by trial and many errors that make great firewood.

Thanks in advance for any help

[Tom Keen]

Its a little difficult to determine what happened..pictures might help.. but based on my own experience.. the worst catches Ive had were with a scraper on the inside of a bowl.

Make sure you have a good edge on your scraper. Sharpen, use for a min and resharpen. Stay away from the rim and take very very light cuts.

I use a very shallow 1/2 detail gouge to make my final light cuts down the inside of a natural edge bowl. I try to make a very clean cut that wont require a scraper to clean up. At the transition I switch to a bowl gouge with a steep, small bevel. Clean up, with a rounded scraper at the transition and bottom if needed.

Best of luck on your next attempt..

T.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ross I am like Tom. The worst catches I have ever had have been with a scraper inside a bowl. One was a NE bowl. I use a P & N 1/2" or 3/8" conventional bowl gouge and can get a finish as good or better than with a scraper. Now I have the hunter tool and can get a smooth finish. I start sanding at 180 or 220 grit.

[Scott Hubl]

Hi Ross,
You didn't mention if the wood was Green(wet) or not, if it was, your bowl most likely started to warp.
While making a NE bowl, you'll want to make your cuts in stages, getting your "wings" to the thickness desired while the center portion is still thick.

Once you have your wings to thicknes start working your way down and in in stages (if wet) Never going back UP to the winged area as by then there will most likely be warping and you'll experience a major catch.

I Highly recommend you get Bill Grumbine's Bowl DVD's
there very good.

[Marc Martindale]

More experienced turners correct me if I'm wrong here. I have trouble with scrapers inside of bowls too.

I think when you scrape it should be with just a small portion of the edge, as you move it, if the contour of the bowl matches the scraper more, and more edge contacts, it'll bite and catch. Of course exacerbated by the warpage in a NE wing.

[Allen Neighbors]

I'll ditto all the above, and add to Tom's advice, that I always use a bowl steady as soon as I can get it mounted, and when I'm making scraping cuts on the inside, I always ramp up the speed to take those very light cuts.
I've had worm holes, that were more like open trenches, running the wrong way, and gotten a catch from them.

[robert hainstock]

I recently got a Ben's best 1 1/2 in scraper. It is wide enough to avoid most of the "catch problems and smooth the surface ripples too. I also like the Grumbine vertical sheer scrape method for smoothing and highly reccomend his bowl turning video too. It is one of the best how to videos I have ever seen.
Bob

[Steve Schlumpf]

Like everyone else, I have found that the inside of a bowl is a great place to have catches! On your bowl - the wood could have been weakened due to worm holes, a crack that you didn't notice, warp caused by relieved stress in the wood - all sorts of things. It's been my experience that when I have a catch using a scraper it will create a real nice divot in the wood but it seldom causes the bowl to explode.

You didn't mention if the wood was green and also what speed you were running at - both could make a difference.

[Glenn Hodges]

I never use a scraper on the inside of a bowl because I get catches with a scraper. I use a 1 1/8 in. skew which has been ground to fit the inside curve of the bowl. I use it as a scraper, and I never get a catch. I stay away from the bark edge. Remember to glue the bark with CA glue. Sometimes I glue it as much as 4 different times to insure its staying power because people pick up the bowl on the edge. People are cautious about the bark edge staying on, so lots of CA is mandatory with a NE in my shop. Caution! DO NOT TRY TO DO YOUR FIRST NE TO THIN. Make this a goal, and work toward this. Did not mean to be so long in this response, hope it helps.

[Steve Busey]

I never use a scraper on the inside of a bowl because I get catches with a scraper. I use a 1 1/8 in. skew which has been ground to fit the inside curve of the bowl. I use it as a scraper, and I never get a catch.

Glenn, I can't quite picture what you're doing - can you post a pic of your sk-raper? Thx

[Scott Hubl]

Sounds to me like Glenn has ground a skew into a Negative Rake Scraper.

To the OP,
Look for the Fine WoodWorking Magazine called "The Best Of Fine Woof Working WOODTURNING basics" It was out last year until about Aug. 31st 2007, I'm sure you can get a copy from Fine WoodWorking's web site.
It has William H. Macy on the cover.
Richard Raffan has a few articles in it and one is on Scrapers and using on bowls.

[Glenn Hodges]

Yep, I was doing that a long time before it was called that. I leave the burr on it. It is raining outside and the wind is blowing. I will try to take a picture next time I go out to the shop.

[curtis rosche]

this is true about the more surface area on the scraper. i have tested this and learned in the hard way, though lucky me i havnt yet had a blowout just nasty catches. for those inside curves use the smallest you have so theres the least amount of tool touching the wood. i also found that when your scraping to get the lightest cut possible, hold the tool very very loosly, and just push it forwards enough so that it just barley touches the wood, if theres no curlies from this then your tool needs tro be resharpened



More experienced turners correct me if I'm wrong here. I have trouble with scrapers inside of bowls too.

I think when you scrape it should be with just a small portion of the edge, as you move it, if the contour of the bowl matches the scraper more, and more edge contacts, it'll bite and catch. Of course exacerbated by the warpage in a NE wing.

[ross russo]

Hi Ross,
You didn't mention if the wood was Green(wet) or not, if it was, your bowl most likely started to warp.
While making a NE bowl, you'll want to make your cuts in stages, getting your "wings" to the thickness desired while the center portion is still thick.

Once you have your wings to thicknes start working your way down and in in stages (if wet) Never going back UP to the winged area as by then there will most likely be warping and you'll experience a major catch.

I Highly recommend you get Bill Grumbine's Bowl DVD's
there very good.


I think Scott nailed it. Probably a rookie mistake, but I was working from the center out to the wings. I had the outside all prettied up and was working the inside. Well trial and one more error. At least the light bulb over the lathe is still intact. It also sounds like I should stick the scraper on the shelf and stick with the trusty gouge.

Oh by the way the hickory was very dry. It came down several years ago and was in the wood behind the house (came from branch near top of the tree). Original piece was about 6" diameter. I cut it in half length wise hoping to get a bit of heart and sap woods for contrast along with some fantastic grain structure. I was turning at about 900 to 1000 rpms.

Once again I thank everyone for all of the advice and information. Since i started reading the threads I have learned quite a bit and many times view the photos that get posted and feel very motivated to try and at least make some very attractive fire wood. Well I feel the VORTEX sucking me back towards the shop. I have several more pieces of that darn hickory and at least two spare bulbs for the light over the lathe.

Thanks Again Ya'll

[William Bachtel]

I like all the comments, and I might ad, that lack of experience is the no. l reason here. Get that DVD. Might like to ad, keep practicing, its one of the best teachers. We are all students until the day we die.