Cutting multiple bowls from one blank

[Rob Harville]

This may be a dumb or naive question...I'm a novice turner (mostly pens and small stuff) and have never turned a bowl before.

On an TV show (I think an episode of "How It's Made"), I saw a wood bowl company that spun huge chunks of wood and cut multiple nested bowls out of the single blank. They started with the smallest bowl inside and swung a cutter in a arc into the block that scooped out the bowl, then switched to the next largest cutter and bowl and cut that out, etc. Depending on the size of the blank, they would cut out a 6", 7", 8", 9", 10", 12", 14" etc.

Is there anything similar that "we" can do at home? It seems very wastful to turn one nice chunk of wood into one bowl and an huge pile of chips and shavings. Thanks for your thoughts.

Oh...here's my modest setup: a new Jet 1220VS (bought last week to replace a Griz mini that I "time shared" with my father-in-law) and my first turning on it: a little walnut "peg".

http://www.teddydog.org/wood/1220vs_new.JPG
http://www.teddydog.org/wood/1220vs_peg2.JPG

Rob

[Mike Golka]

They are called center savers http://kelton.co.nz/centre.html

[John Frigillana]

;) Let me know also' I posted earlier on this topic also. I have a 1220.
Good luck with the responses!:rolleyes:

[Rob Harville]

Thanks, Mike! That is similar to what I saw them use, if not exactly the same. Lee Valley is one of their USA distributors and they sell for about $250 and up! Would we worth it if I every really got "into" bowl turning with expensive wood.

Rob

[Bob Hallowell]

There are several differnet ones out there but most require a larger lathe with a bigger motor

Bob

[Bernie Weishapl]

You might want to check out most of the bowl saver tools. Mike Mahoney says you need at least 1.5 hp minimum to use with the Keltons, I know Dave Lancaster at oneway told me 1.5 hp was about as low as you could go but they had one guy used the oneway system with 1 hp but it took a lot of time and he stalled his lathe all the time. I know they couldn't be used on mini jets or even the 1220. I know my Rikon with the 1/2 hp won't pull the oneway system with the smallest knife and it wouldn't work on my friends 3/4 hp system. Just a thought.

[curtis rosche]

when you search bowl saver and center saver, also search bowl coring. on the smallest one that i saw when looking around, i beleive i saw one that would fit a 12inch lathe at the smallest.

[scott schmidt grasshopper]

one way has a smaller system that fits ONLY the 12 inch . but it does take some hp to run it. . if you are coring green wood its pretty good my delta700 had only 3/4 hp and a reeves drive and would stall out and took alot of time to use properly.

[robert hainstock]

I got yo use one of these tools for te first time recently. I go with the more HP bigger lathe reccomendations. The lathe I was using was the 3520PM, and it stalled several times from the tool pressure. It had a 2HP motor. I is certainly the right tool for woodmizers like me, and when I get the big lathe, will be at the top of my wish list. :)
Bob

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have to agree about the minimum 1.5HP recommendation. I've been roughing & coring bowls like crazy lately. I have a 1.5HP motor, and can stall it pretty easily. The one in the "how its made" video is a HUGE, very heavy industrial lathe, probably 10-15HP class, using an automated system similar to the oneway center savers, where a central pivot point makes the same shape out of each nested bowl. I can't remember the name of the company; I think they called the business a "bowl mill".

[Reed Gray]

Rob,
Do a search on bowl coring, and you will find a lot of posts from me on the subject. I turn and core a lot of bowls. The smallest system is the McNaughton mini which has a 1/4 inch wide cutter. Their tool rest for it sits about 3 inches above the top of the banjo, and it won't fit all the 12 inch lathes. 1 hp is minimal for coring, but it can be done on smaller lathes with higher speeds, and gentle pressure. If you do get into bowls, a coring system is a must have tool. While the cost is a big step, the money and time you save by coring more than makes up for it.
robo hippy

[John Frigillana]

:( I've been looking into this for awhile. The systems would require more HP. and a 1" tool rest post. I just recently turned a piece of NFP and had a catch on the inside using a 10" rest. It snapped at the post. I think there would be alot of pressure on the tool rest so a beefier post would be a requirement. This my opinion.