Ambrosia Maple Bowl (comments always welcome)

[Dean Matthews]

My wife had a bunch of stuff to do today so I got to go and play in the garage for a bit. Tag in the bargin bin said Ambrosia Maple.

I still seem to have a lot of trouble when it gets to do the wall near the rim... had to break out the roughing gouge in order to fix the rim and try it again.

I did get to use my scraper for the first time today. I have tried it before by it didn't work out so well... I used it at about 500 RPM today and it worked out just fine.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0378.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0380.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0381.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0383.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0385.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0386.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0390.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/maple/IMG_0391.jpg

Pictures are with and without finish. The darker pix are the bowl with Tung Oil on it.

[Bruce Pennell]

Dean I love the finish really brings out all the ray's in the grain. Very nice, like your foot detail also. If you are having trouble I'd recommend Bill Grumbines video on bowls. Turning bowls made easy (http://www.wonderfulwood.com/) That by far was the best video I found on doing bowls, Bill is easy to watch, funny and a great teacher. I bought 9 or 10 video's when I bought my lathe. He explained the cut's, well just everything much better than the others.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dean very nice looking bowl and nice wood. I agree with Bruce on Bill's video. I bought it and have never looked back. Keep'em coming Dean. They will get easier.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice bowl form, Dean.

The one thing you can work on as you turn more of them is wall thickness and making it even throughout the form. This is not only more aesthetically pleasing, it helps with even moisture release and makes cracking less likely. In the above pictures, it appears that the inside contour doesn't quite follow the outside contour. So my advise would be to work on your interior techniques. Bill's video that Bruce mentioned would be helpful in toward that.

[Dean Matthews]

Very nice bowl form, Dean.

The one thing you can work on as you turn more of them is wall thickness and making it even throughout the form. This is not only more aesthetically pleasing, it helps with even moisture release and makes cracking less likely. In the above pictures, it appears that the inside contour doesn't quite follow the outside contour. So my advise would be to work on your interior techniques. Bill's video that Bruce mentioned would be helpful in toward that.

The contour is not as bad as it looks in the photo... I know exactly what you mean though. I was looking at it last night after the tung oil dried some more... it is a little beefy right at that bottom edge.

I keep meaning to get a curved rest and for odd reason I have not yet. I hit the depth of the bowl when I still had more material along the sides. As I kept going I was hanging off the tool rest a lot. I started to get nervous and decided it was time to stop. =) Looking back now... I probably could have used the round nose scraper to clean that up... Or is that too much material removal with a scraper?

Theoretically I could always make a jam chuck and return that bottom edge. I may just do that for the experience.

Oddly enough I did better on my sycamore bowl and that thing was catching on the worm holes like crazy...

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o278/went_postal/sycamore/IMG_3314.jpg


Thank for all the comments!

[Dean Matthews]

Dean I love the finish really brings out all the ray's in the grain. Very nice, like your foot detail also. If you are having trouble I'd recommend Bill Grumbines video on bowls. Turning bowls made easy (http://www.wonderfulwood.com/) That by far was the best video I found on doing bowls, Bill is easy to watch, funny and a great teacher. I bought 9 or 10 video's when I bought my lathe. He explained the cut's, well just everything much better than the others.

I happened to have some funds in my paypal account from a refund... I just ordered his two DVD set.

THANKS!

[Curt Fuller]

That's a nice bowl with a good looking form. The tearout in the 4th picture is the classic textook example of the difficulty of turning across the grain. It's always been my biggest challenge in turning bowls too. I'll just echo what some of the others have already said about wall thickness and if you haven't already read this thread it has some good suggestions also.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=84303

Another thing that helped me learn how to combat tearout was just practicing on an inside curve without worrying about the form. Just take a piece of wood and don't worry about it becoming a bowl. Just start hollowing it out, practicing and trying different cuts and tools until you can see what works for you.

[Clara Koss]

I happened to have some funds in my paypal account from a refund... I just ordered his two DVD set.

THANKS!

;)thanks for the suggested video on turning bowls...all level talent can gain from this video...

[Dean Matthews]

That's a nice bowl with a good looking form. The tearout in the 4th picture is the classic textook example of the difficulty of turning across the grain. It's always been my biggest challenge in turning bowls too. I'll just echo what some of the others have already said about wall thickness and if you haven't already read this thread it has some good suggestions also.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=84303

Another thing that helped me learn how to combat tearout was just practicing on an inside curve without worrying about the form. Just take a piece of wood and don't worry about it becoming a bowl. Just start hollowing it out, practicing and trying different cuts and tools until you can see what works for you.


The tearout looks a lot worse in the pic than it does in person. I actually took some steel wool and a bit of 400 grit sand paper this afternoon and cleaned it up. It still LOOKS furry but it feels really smooth.

I like the water idea from the other thread... I actually do use a spray bottle with some water in it when I go to the 600 grit sand paper...

Thank you for that thread... lots of good ideas there.

[robert hainstock]

Dean, Do you burnish your scrapers? If not, burnishing puts an up turned
very sharp edge on the tool, and gives it an amazing cutting ability. I place my burnisher in the vise upside down, and lay the tool flat to the vise, pres hard and pull the edge across the burnisher. If then you look at the edge, you will see a small shiny area that is the cutting edge. I hope this is clearer than mud. :):)
Bob