Burl/Small Bowl Turning Tips

[Matt Hutchinson]

I just roughed out my first burl. It's hard maple, and only about 6" long. Immediately I encountered issues that I don't usually face. For one, the smallest jaws I have for my chuck only go down to about 2", and I wanted the base of this one to be about 1.25". So, having to keep a larger than desirable tenon, I 'raised' the sides high above the foot. Once it is dry, I will finish the outside, the inside, and then the foot as usual. However, leaving the sides far up from the foot will allow me, after the walls are to their final thickness, to extend the sides down to where I want them, with only a 1.25" foot.

So I pose this question: How do you turn small bowls with equally small feet?

Hutch

[Glenn Hodges]

Reverse mount the piece, and work on the foot to any desired size using the tool of your choice. Someone just posted how to reverse mount a bowl using a piece of rounded wood with a piece of protection between the rounded wood and the bowl. Make sure you do this before putting a finish on the bowl.

[Paul Heely]

Hutch I basically do exactly the same thing you did. I do this a lot with larger bowls too. My small chuck does not open big enough to have the size tenon I want on larger bowls and my large chuck does not go small enough for the size foot I want.

--
Paul

[Matt Hutchinson]

Oops! I left that part out, Glenn. When I stated I would take the sides and foot down to 1.25", it's reverse mounted like you said.

Also, any tips on turning/drying burls would be great. Thanks.

Hutch

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking piece Matt. Gotta love those burls.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt....beautiful wood and project!

I use a donut chuck for turning the feet off my bowls.

For NEs like this....I use doublesided tape and tape as many thickness of 2" styrofoam insulation as necessary to hold the side of the NE off the base. I turn the styrofoam cone shaped with a flat top......Then place the NE over the cone and capture it with the donut. I use the tail stock to center it before tightening the donut down. Then slide the tail stock out of the way turn off the foot or make it whatever small size I want.