I jumped off the deep end today and turned the largest bowl I’ve attempted. I had a nice piece of kiln dried 12/4 walnut so I glued up a square and cut a round blank on the bandsaw. Final piece turned out 13” by 2.75”. Finished with walnut oil and burnished with bees wax. My wife has already claimed it for a fruit bowl.
I found the dry walnut much more difficult to turn. Bowl turning with dry walnut is entirely different animal compared to dry spindle work IMHO. I gained a lot of gouge experience. The harder drier wood let you know quickly if the tool was in the right position. I’m going to rechuck it tomorrow and do one more smoothing cut on the inside.
As Raffan says, let the wood come to the tool. Compared to green wood, the dry walnut was more like a slow crawl than a brisk walk. I also found myself honing and sharpening a lot more. One clue was the shavings started getting hot when a new edge was needed.
Tally ho.
I found the dry walnut much more difficult to turn. Bowl turning with dry walnut is entirely different animal compared to dry spindle work IMHO. I gained a lot of gouge experience. The harder drier wood let you know quickly if the tool was in the right position. I’m going to rechuck it tomorrow and do one more smoothing cut on the inside.
As Raffan says, let the wood come to the tool. Compared to green wood, the dry walnut was more like a slow crawl than a brisk walk. I also found myself honing and sharpening a lot more. One clue was the shavings started getting hot when a new edge was needed.
Tally ho.
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