Thin Walled Green-Turned Bowls - Advice

[Matt Hutchinson]

I just got done turning and finishing a green hard maple bowl. It warped some on the lathe, which I expected, and I know it will probably warp a little more before all is said and done. I finished it with wipe on poly. I am hoping you all can give me some advice/tips for this type of process. I was pretty much flying by the seat of my pants, but I am wondering if there are any tricks I should know about. Thanks.

Hutch

P.S. Here is the bowl, varying wall thickness from a strong 1/16" down to about 1mm near the foot. It's 5" by 2.5". Only has one coat of poly so far.

[Scott Hubl]

Can't help much on the advice except to let it warp and hope it doesnt crack.
I did want to say that looks Great, form is nice and I Love the contrast of heart and sapwood.

Good job.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Matt that is a fine looking bowl. I don't know for sure but it seems like when I take a green bowl down to less than a 1/4" if I soak it and I mean soak it with antique oil it doesn't seem to warp much if at all. Nothing scientific about it but I have did probably 10 or so bowls (walnut, maple, cherry and elm) like this and they warped very little.

[Matt Hutchinson]

The oil probably isn't a bad idea. I have been meaning to try it some time. Even before I got the poly on, however, there was a considerable amount of movement. I wonder if applying water liberally to the surface throughout the turning process would prevent this, then drop is in DNA or something. Hm..

Hutch

[Bruce Pennell]

Matt the nice thing is there's more wood if it warps to much. I did two bowls out of pepper tree a few weeks ago. My wife's is oval, my daughters hasn't moved? Just wood I guess. That is the one thing I love about mesquite, start and finish a green bowl in an hour, haven't had any crack or move yet. Did a 10" palo verde bowl this morning about 6" tall, very green, and wet. Had one tool mark I was afraid to clean up, was going thin and I got thin. Palo Verde is real yellow, and you can almost see through the area I had the tool mark in. This was my first experience doing a bowl in Palo Verde, don't like it half as much as mesquite, sands and finish's rougher than other woods I've done. Next time I won't go quite that thin. Matt thats a great looking bowl, hope it doesn't move to much....Bruce

[Steve Schlumpf]

Matt - I haven't done any bowls from start to finish - so I don't have any advice to offer. Bernie's sugestion makes sense to me - allow the bowl to soak, wipe off the excess and, hopefully, you'll be good to go.

I did want to say that your bowl looks great! Very thin, great color and some really nice grain! Hope it doesn't warp to much for you! Nice work!

[Curt Fuller]

but I am wondering if there are any tricks I should know about.

Hutch


Work fast! At least around here in our 15% humidity you can feel the warp with each pass as they get thinner and thinner. Sand as best you can on the lathe, then let it dry and do it's warping. Sand by hand off the lathe and finish after it's had a few days to decide what it wants to look like.

[Reed Gray]

Main thing on the inside is to take it down in stages: turn to finish about 1 inch at a time. Otherwise, the wall is too thin, and it will warp, and move like a soap bubble. Turned to 1/16 or so sill be dry enough to sand out in about an hour. Warpage depends a lot on the wood. Sycamore can move a lot, as can Madrone. If you can turn that thin, you can to hats. Also, if you can find it, there is a Dell Stubbs video where he turns a piece of apple very thin. He has water on it, and uses a shear scraper at slow speed and very light pressure for final thicknessing. An interesting tecnique.
robo hippy

[Dennis Puskar]

That is really thin. great looking bowl matt.

Dennis

[Matt Hutchinson]

Thanks a lot for all the great comments. I really love this haul of maple. All of it has this beautiful dark free-form coloring.

Well, it certainly has moved a lot. Right now it's a quarter inch narrower than its length. I started this bowl with the intention of keeping it, figuring it would have lots of movement. And I was correct. :(

This shape was particularly challenging. I wanted to move fast, but I just couldn't. I have never made a bowl of this shape, nor have I turned this thin, but I had the finish on in about 2.5 hrs. I thought that by putting the lathe in reverse and turning on the "backside" of the bowl the completion of the inside of the rim would be easier. In fact, I found that once I switched to forward, and leaned over the lathe, I was able to judge the cuts much better. I want to try this again with a simpler shape, and I think I would be able to go much faster.

Also, I think I may try a bowl cut to about 1/4" thick, then soak in DNA. Once dry (in less than 2 weeks I expect) I imagine I would still have enough material to cut down to a very thin wall.

Hutch

[Art kraft]

Gary
Very interesting to hear Dell's name. He is a close friend of mine and we trade ideas all the time. Had coffee with him on this week. What a humble guy.