Knitting bowl - 1st attempt

[Brice Rogers]

I'm in the final sanding stage of a knitting bowl that I am making for my SIL. It is made of California live oak that came from a local tree that blew over. I intentionally made it a bit thicker (perhaps 1/2") because of the weakening effect of the J-section that I cut out. The oak cut really nicely but because of its hardness seems to sand very slowly.

I used a small dremel tool with a template and an insert. The end result was passable but I found the cut out to be challenging to cut because of both the curvature and the thickness of the vessel. This is my first knitting bowl and I consider myself somewhat of a beginner.

The purpose of the cutout is to act as somewhat of a guide for the yarn coming off the ball inside the bowl.

C & C welcome.IMG_0019 (1024x768) (2).jpg

[John K Jordan]

Nice job. The thicker, heavier bowl will help keep it from sliding around. (Make sure, of course, the inside and slot is extremely smooth so the yarn won't snag.) I don't think there is a knitter or crocheter anywhere who would not want one (or two) of these!

JKJ

[daryl moses]

Looks very good. Knitting [yarn] bowls are always a hit at craft shows. Your cut out looks great, I've never tried a dremmel I use a coping saw.

[doug williams]

I made some yarn bowls last winter and I agree cutting the slot is hard to right with the compound curves of the bowl. Use a coping saw as well.Got some Japanese wood files from Lee Valley late and haven't had a chance to use them yet. Wood splints and sand paper to get the curves smooth seem to work well.

[Brice Rogers]

Doug, similar to you using wood splints, I took a piece of 1" thinwall pipe and cut out a couple of lengthwise strips. Then I double backed some sand paper. One I used for the concave portions and some for the convex portions. Later I found that for the finer grits that I could just place them over the coarse sandpaper and they pretty much stayed put.

I was surprised with how hard the oak was and how the coarse grits were so slow but didn't leave big grooves either.

I thought of using a coping saw but it seemed like the end of the saw was going to be knocking at the back wall. And the slot is fairly close to the bottom. Also, with the recessed upper edge, that limits the travel of the saw. Perhaps a small keyhole saw may have worked. Also, if I had more of an open bowl a coping saw may have worked better.

Were there any tricks to keeping the slot parallel - - the inside having the same width as the outside? What width slot did you make? Did you put a pair of holes for storage of the knitting needles?

[doug williams]

Brice, I got a one inch bolt and nuts to fit my chuck, clamped that in a vise with the bowl attached, drew my outline on the bowl spaced my groove about 1/4 inch wide so I had room to sand. Drilled my hole, then cutting from the top you can somewhat follow the curve of the bowl always pointing the end of the coping saw toward the middle. I used a pencil to draw my outline, erasing parts till I got the keyhole right. Google images and you will see all kinds of keyholes. Your next one will get easier.

[Sandy Syring]

Awesome bowl. I have several people asking me to make these for them. I'm just hung up on the slot and will have to try some of these suggestions.

[Roger Chandler]

Very nice bowl, Brice! I agree with John on his comment about the added weight by leaving the walls a bit thicker will bring more stability to the bowl, and make it more usable for the person who is trying to feed yarn from it. I like the choice of wood and the shape as well. Your inward curved opening will assist in keeping the ball of yarn inside the bowl, and help with the feeding of yarn through the slot, I believe.

Put a great finish on this, and look out.....if you show it, you will have orders on your hands! Nice touch with the bead around the rim...very attractive!

[Ron Stadler]

Looks good to me, knitting bowl or not. I bet cutting that out was difficult though but you did a good job.

[Glenn C Roberts]

Anybody try mounting a router on a press and using a x - y axis table with the bowl mounted in a vise?

[Paul Williams]

I built a jig to hold the bowl with the side up and a J shaped slot for the bearing on my router pattern bit to follow. I think the idea came from an earlier thread on this forum, but not sure. The only difficulty was having to reset the depth of cut to match the curve in the bowl. Still it was much easier than those I cut with saw or dermal, and neater also.

[Brice Rogers]

Looks good to me, knitting bowl or not. I bet cutting that out was difficult though but you did a good job.

As Paul Williams did, I made a jig out of masonite with the J cutout. Then I used a dremel router with a collet to follow the cutout. The biggest problem was the curvature of the bowl and the thickness (about 1/2" for strength). That required me to have the bit hang out a lot. I coulldn't find a decent router bit that had a long enough cutting length. I ended up using one from Dremel that had kind of a spiral on it. Because the wood was so hard (Ca. live oak), it cut slowly and the bit would bend, chewing up my collet. I had thought of grinding off the part of the cutter that would come in contact with the collet but didn't.

The "cat's meow" would have been to have access to a CNC with a decent bit.

[Ron Stadler]

As Paul Williams did, I made a jig out of masonite with the J cutout. Then I used a dremel router with a collet to follow the cutout. The biggest problem was the curvature of the bowl and the thickness (about 1/2" for strength). That required me to have the bit hang out a lot. I coulldn't find a decent router bit that had a long enough cutting length. I ended up using one from Dremel that had kind of a spiral on it. Because the wood was so hard (Ca. live oak), it cut slowly and the bit would bend, chewing up my collet. I had thought of grinding off the part of the cutter that would come in contact with the collet but didn't.

The "cat's meow" would have been to have access to a CNC with a decent bit.

Jigs, jigs, jigs, where do we put all are jigs. Well you did a good job.