Wip

[Eugene Dixon]

Pulled 21 once turned bowls from the soap solution today. Some walnut, some elm, some mystery wood, and one oak. Some of these have been soaking since January. A lot of live edge in this batch. Looking forward to final turning. 3-4 will just be final sanded as I turned them thin. The foam is from the dishwashing detergent, a surfactant.
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Side bar. Not sure how everyone gets their pictures oriented correctly but my method is to rotate the picture 270 degrees, save it, upload it, delete it, rotate it 90 degrees (original orientation) and post. Seems strange.

[Robert Hayward]

Not familiar with the soap solution for your rough turned bowls. Am familiar with image rotation though. I use the software built into my Iphone. Whatever orientation I tell the Iphone to make the picture is the way the picture stays when uploaded. Lacking that there are several free rotator apps online. Google image rotator for a selection of different ones available.

[Reed Gray]

The LDD (liquid dishwashing detergent) method for bowls was developed by Ron Kent in Hawaii some years back as a method for being able to sand out the Norfolk Island Pine bowls that he made. You do not need to soak for more than 24 hours. Not sure what actually happens with the soap but it does make sanding a LOT easier, especially for difficult woods. It does nothing for allowing bowls to dry without cracking. The soap solution is about half water and half tan or lemon colored dishwashing soap. It will leach out color from the different woods. With black walnut, that can be a problem since it will color light colored woods like maple.

robo hippy

[Bernie Kopfer]

Sorry I’m a bit late to this thread. Is this soap method to be used on bowls that are finished turning to shape and now just need to be sanded to final smoothness.?
Or as some say, I’m missing something!

[Reed Gray]

Bernie, that is the way I do it. Green bowl into the soap, soak for 24 hours, rinse off, wrap the rim in plastic stretch film, let dry for a week, and then sand. This works for my once turned bowls. To power sand, you need a lathe that goes down to about 10 to 15 rpm. Otherwise you can't keep the abrasives on the wood. I made an articulated arm for when sanding. This really helps for the first grits. I can rest my arm on the articulated arm, and spin the bowl with the other arm. I do have a video about that....

robo hippy

[Eugene Dixon]

Bernie,
I use it for once turned and twice turn bowls. But then, I'm still learning.

[alan weinberg]

though Ron has passed, his site is still active. Look under techniques on www.ronkent.com. I’ve bought the 5 gallon liquid dishwashing detergent at Smart&Final to pre soak and stabilize NIP in, as Reed said, a 50/50 mix with water.

[alan weinberg]

Ron only soaked blanks, not once turned bowls and only had experience with Norfolk Island Pine. I’ve soaked large blanks of NIP, 15 inch diameter, 18 inch length, and they’ve soaked up a gallon or more of the stuff. Makes turning interesting and quite wet. Supposed to prevent cracking of green wood. My results are favorable but mixed—occasional small crack, but no warping.