Bowl turning without sanding

[mrGeeze]

Getting back to turning after a couple of years away
Not really interested in sanding or finishing bowls to gallery level anymore.
But I still enjoy turning bowls..

I am working develop technique to leave a minimum of tool marks and tearout.
I finish with beeswax or some other ez wipe finish.

I have a million tools like most turners.
Lately I've been using a bowl gouge, a scraper (1/2" and 3/4" thick) and a carbide (round bit) tool.
I was hoping this simple combination would get me where I want to be.
Initially I expected the gouge do most of the shaping, with the scraper and carbide tool to clean it up.

So far I've been surprised by the results

It seems the gouge does the best job of getting rid of tear out and tool marks.
I use a shear scrape (a la Bill Grumbine) and that seems to leave a better edge than either the scraper or the carbide tool.

However I can't make this shear cut over the entire exterior, or the interior.

Just wondering what workflow those trying to sand as little as possible (preferably note at all) use.

thanks,

 

[hockenbery]

fun challenge…..

1. I rarely use the 40/40 gouge on bowls but it’s worth looking at the Stewart Batty process.

2. try to catch an Al Stirt demo. He does a supper sweet bowl with beads and coves and milk paint and no sanding Except to enhance the milk paint.

3. I use an Ellsworth ground gouge, a 3/8 spindle gouge, 1/4” bowl gouge Michelson grind (3/8 bar), If needed a 1.25” round nose scraper On the inside bottom.
outside I use a pull cut if I need a better finish than the sweet spot push cut. Then shear scrape

inside. I use the 1/4 Michelson ground gouge to cut the first 1-2” , then use an advanced flute up shear cut for the remainder of the bowl. On occasion the fibers in the bottom of the bowl may not cut cleanly particularly if figure turns some of the grain in the wrong direction. These I clean Up with the scraper.
the spindle gouge is used to cut the the tenon, any beads, and turn off the tenon
cut rim bowls I usually sand with 180,220,320. They probably have a 220 surface from the tools. The
NE bowls I sand off the lathe. Spot sanding if needed with 180. Then the whole bowl with 220,320

this thread has a video of returning a dried bow

Working with green wood

The August 2015 AAW JOURNAL has great article by David Ellsworth on working with green wood. This is followed by 11 marvelous ways turners turned cracks into features. One of David's themes is that the deck is stacked against newer woodturners successfully working with wet wood. Might be a nice...

www.aawforum.org

this thread has a video of turning a NE crotch bow.

Naural edge bowl from a crotch

Turning a crotch is fun and produces a heart shaped bowl with a highly figured bottom. I put a video from a demo I did in may on YouTube. These are nice bowls for turners who have done 4-5 natural edge bowls without getting a catch. While best suited for intermediate and advanced beginners...

www.aawforum.org

 

[Doug Freeman]

1st I’ll say I’ve done a few pieces without any sanding and didnt care for the result - they were not embellished or anything, just smooth surfaces. They were finish cut wet. Didnt like the rough feel of the surface after drying. Even a cursory sanding improves them, but…it depends what one is after.

Sheer scraping the OD as you do, with a long wing bg. For areas I cant really sheer scrape, I’ll try laying the bg horizontal, using the lower wing as an nrs. Also have a radiussed 1/2” nrs to try, flat or rolled up, plus several other scrapers/tipped scrapers. No one approach works all the time.

A 40/40 can leave a nice finish on the OD if you can guide it just right - sometimes I do, sometimes not. Pull cut on the wing bevel evens things out - depending on the wood, I feed it rim to bottom at times which gives a cleaner cut. A sheer scrape rim to bottom can sometimes solve tearout problems (Ellsworth).

ID - 40/40 as far down as it will go, then an upright flute cut, or a traditional bowl gouge - depends on what provides the best finish. NRS across the bottom works well. Teardrop Scraper tip rolled over to shear scrape the bowl sides as needed.

I gladly spend time going through various tools/methods to get the best finish I can to limit the amount of sanding. Sometimes I have to start at 120, sometimes 220, just depends.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

Without the lathe turning, use cabinet scrapers with a very sharp rolled burr. You can use the french curve style on the interior. Be sure to scrape "down hill" on the grain. For many years, that's all that was done on even the finest furniture. Some "neanderthals" that only use hand tools to make furniture still work this way. Many builders that recreate the American Long Rifle (think Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett) also use scrapers to finish their work.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I get the best results with a bowl gouge.

 

[Neil S]

I experimented for awhile with no sanding but found I was taking as long to get a finish off the tools that I was 'almost' satisfied with, so returned to sanding to a level that I was more satisfied with as most of my work goes to a gallery for sale.

Here is an example of the rim on one of those bowls that was finished with the Japanese plane blades used in scraping mode and then just waxed...

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And. here are the Kanna blades I used for doing the fine finishing scrapes...

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[Dave Landers]

Check out the demo Tom Wirsing did for our club a couple months ago

 

[Russ Braun]

Nice post Dave!!

 

[robo hippy]

I would like to have a play date with Tom. As far as a bowl that does not need sanding, as far as I am concerned, impossible, or maybe "totally and in all ways inconceivable!" With end grain, yes, you can use the NRS to get 400 grit surfaces, and on spindles, it can be done with a skew. Both of those are possible for 'experienced turners. With a card scraper, if you know how to sharpen one and how to use it, yes, you can get clean surfaces, and probably good enough that they don't need to be sanded. One memory that sticks in my mind was Stuart Batty. He was turning some honey locust, and with the finished piece, he commented that there was no tear out. Me, being me, I went up and looked at the finished piece. There was no highly visible tear out, but put your hands and fingers on it and there was still tear out. When you go uphill against the grain, you will get tear out. This makes no difference with how sharp your tools are, or how good you are. Very experienced turners can get surfaces that require much less tear out than average turners. The NRS is a good tool, and it does have many uses. It is still a scraper, and if you have played with them, you know that they work better with some woods than others. A scraper will pull at the wood fibers. Going downhill/with the grain in bowls, there is pretty much no tear out. Going uphill/against the grain, there is always going to be some tear out. The idea is to reduce it to the point where your time spend sanding is reduced.

robo hippy

 

[Dean Center]

Tom commonly demonstrates at the Rocky Mountain Woodturning Symposium in Loveland, CO, but I don't see his name on the demonstrator list.