New Bowl Pic

[Tom Sweeney]

Hey everyone,
I haven't posted anything in a while cause I've been too busy. I was able to turn this little gem last week though. It is from a downed willow tree at my Church. It's darker than normal cause I mixed a little cherry stain with the oil. The last 2 I did out of this wood had a kind of splotchy finish - so I thought this would help even it out some & it did.

It's 5" at the rim X just under 3" tall and real thin at the rim but it gets a bit thicker towards the base. I kind of like that look.

This is the first bowl I turned using my new talon chuck - I really like the way it works.

Thanks for looking!

[Jim Becker]

"Most Awesome", Tom!! Great shape and curves.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

That is a great looking Bowl Tom! I like the shape, and the finish seemed to work out fine.............the color is very nice, I think you may be on to something with the finish idea. The Talon is a really nice chuck, isn't it? It sure makes things easier, that's for sure. I guess flat work is history, now that you have started cranking the Lathe?
Nice work Tom, thanks for sharing the picture with us.

[Bill Grumbine]

Very nice Tom! You did a great job on that piece of wood, and ain't that Talon nice to use?

Bill

[Glenn Hodges]

Beautiful Tom, I heard that willow is difficult to turn, but you did a great job.

[Dave Avery]

Tom,

I'm not a spinny type of guy, but I really like the design of your bowl. Great work. Dave.

[Tom Sweeney]

I really appreciate all the compliments.

I owe it all to my teacher - right Bill

Glenn this stuff doesn't turn too bad - there seems to be a big difference between the end grain & the side grain though & I definately need to use my 60 grit gouge when I'm finished with the tools. That probably doesn't apply to better turners though. I also have had trouble with finishing - but the cherry stain did really even it out some. I think a buffing system would really make this wood look great. & there are some places where the grain has a snake skin look - sort of like sycamore I think -that's really cool but this bowl only has a little bit of that.

I'm definately getting more comfortable with my turning - Now I need to do something about my tool sharpening

I have another bowl sitting on the lathe now -that's turning out pretty nice - but I can't finish it cause I seriously screwed up my gouge

This weekend I'm going to try & make a shop made sharpening Jig & see if I can fix it.

Thanks again

[Bob Lasley]

Tom,

That is one great looking bowl. One would think you had been turning for years! When you said it was willow, the memories came flooding back. My first ever lathe project, way back in 8th grade shop class, was a bowl from willow. Of course, back then we just glued up 4/4 stock until we had the thickness that we wanted.

Again, beautiful bowl!

Bob

[Matt Bridges]

Great Job Tom!! I like how you darkened it up a bit.

Matt