For bowls, I use a recess. To me, it does give a "protected" place for my signature. I can also sand both inside and outside at the same time so no picking up the abrasives two times for inside, outside, oh, 3 times, sanding the tenon where it was removed. When our club first started, I remember a discussion about recess or tenon. A number of turners commented about their failures with the recess. Being a newbie, I didn't say anything, but thinking back on it, I had all the problems they did, but figured out how to overcome them. I use a recess for all of my bowls. I used a 4 inch recess on the biggest bowl I turned, which was 22 inch diameter, and I do core every bowl that is worth coring. Some people do the "remove all traces of how it was attached to lathe" thing. The only people that seems to make any difference to is other turners, and not to the people who buy my bowls. One friend, his wife does not like the recess, so he turns them off. If I left the tenon on the bottoms of my bowls, my madrone would have far more cracks since I once turn only, and won't boil them.
robo hippy
