My best results yet.. so far..

[Brian Gustin]

Just because I am rather new to turning.. this is nothing "artsy" here, just an ordinary ho-hum bowl.. turned from Magnolia.. But being one of my early rough turnings set aside for drying, and finally stabilized enough to finish turn, after all my practice, advice (and new tool rests that aren't cast iron) Plus, discovering that Orange Glo orange oil for wood makes an excellent stabilizer for tear-out (I just thought I'd try it and see what happens) and got my smoothest cuts I have ever managed with bowl gouge (plus a touch up with a scraper and some sanding starting at 120) thought I'd post it here, since there does not seem to really be a "critique my work" forum or gallery, and me not being within reasonable (no more than half hour drive time) reach of any clubs or guilds....

So here we are.. Feel free to offer any /all feedback or criticism (I'm very thick skinned, don't worry) I call it a "floating bowl" - because of the little rim I left on the foot lets it seem to float off the surface when sitting flat.. It just feels good to be able to say "I'm getting there" especially compared to some of my first ones..

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Very nice. Good thickness, shape and looks smooth.

 

[Ron Solfest]

I like it a lot. Nice thickness and shape, and looks smooth as Rusty said. Only negative to me is the base looks large and consequently the inside bottom is pretty flat instead of continuous curve. I typically look for utility bowls to have a base diameter ~40% +/- of the bowl diameter.

With that said, I’ve made lots of bowls I might call “ho-him”, that isn’t one of them - nice job!

 

[Brian Gustin]

I like it a lot. Nice thickness and shape, and looks smooth as Rusty said. Only negative to me is the base looks large and consequently the inside bottom is pretty flat instead of continuous curve. I typically look for utility bowls to have a base diameter ~40% +/- of the bowl diameter.

With that said, I’ve made lots of bowls I might call “ho-him”, that isn’t one of them - nice job!

Thank you! I have been shooting for more rounded inside bottoms in my more recent work, but that 40% figure helps a lot, as something to "aim at" - my later rough turns are actually more curved (something I think I still need practice to get right.. at first I was trying to imitate, in my mind's eye, the shape of a typical corning ware soup bowl... but found later on that it was difficult to turn the transition to the bottom - this one was, and is where I ended up using scraper to smooth that little bit - about 1/4 inch wide) Recently have been paying more attention to the "other" bowls (mixing bowls, etc) in the kitchen and looking at differences in their forms..

As for this particular one - most of the magnolia it came from was punky and/or rotted in the core, lot of cracking (as seen in photos) of heartwood some of which I "stabilized" with CA glue - a lot of them ended up going in the firewood pile by the time they dried- they cracked just too much.. my biggest error on this one was, I trued up the tenon before I trued up the outside of bowl on jam chuck.. didn't notice it had shifted ever so slightly, so if you look close at the rim, you might see thickness variations caused by difference in tenon trueness vs bowl outside trueness.. in hindsight I probably should have flipped it back around and re-trued everything, but my outside was so silky smooth from the finish cut (after letting orange oil soak in - it had horrible tear-out before that) I didn't want to mess with it.. In fact , starting sanding at 120 grit made it rougher..

side note: I do have several scraps of magnolia left - too small to really be usable for much, but I am debating to take a hand plane to it and shave off shavings from the sapwood & bark (it has a nice smell) and mix it in with some applewood shavings and make potpourri satchets.. (I also have bagged apple shavings for a relative that wants them for his smoker and grilling) - Just me thinking out loud on other ways to use up scrap wood that you don't find in a lumber store..

 

[Randy Anderson]

Nice work. One of the things I did early on was find a turning partner who had much more experience than I did to both teach me and give me feedback on my work. As I told him, my wife, kids and friends will always say "that's nice" and let it be. I needed someone to say what was right AND wrong with it. Was a big help to me getting through the learning curve. Even if online via email it can be a real help. Lots of different approaches to the base of a bowl. I shoot for no more than about 1/3 of the diameter, raised about 1/8 off the table with slight concave so only about 1/8 of the foot rim sits on the table. I always true up the tenon first, clean up the foot area a bit then flip around. Like you found, on a jam chuck it can sometime shift just a little and then you've got to deal with things slightly out of round for the rest of the project. A real challenge if you decide to do some detail on the outside like a bead or a groove or want your rim thickness to be consistent. As others have said, sharp transitions from wall to bottom are tough to sand and get right.

 

[Dave Landers]

As Randy said, if you can find a mentor that'd be great. But there are also a few things you can do on your own to develop your personal feel for style and shape and form.

You already are doing one thing I found helpful - rummage around in the kitchen. Pick up some bowls, look at them from various angles, feel them; see what you like and what you don't. Also go to art stores or markets or whatever and look at (and touch) pottery, etc.

When I make a thing, and something about it is new, or I am unsure of something (shape, foot, rim, etc), I usually put it in a central location in the house, so I'll walk past it several times a day. Seeing it at random times and in random moods, sometimes out of the corner of your eye (and away from the context of the shop) does help you see what you like and don't. Sometimes I know right away, other times it takes weeks.

Do something similar with pairs - two somewhat similar things. It's easier to judge your like/dislike differences between two things than just looking at one. One might have the better curve, but the other has a better foot, etc.

 

[hockenbery]

When I make a thing, and something about it is new, or I am unsure of something (shape, foot, rim, etc), I usually put it in a central location in the house, so I'll walk past it several times a day. Seeing it at random times and in random moods, sometimes out of the corner of your eye (and away from the context of the shop) does help you see what you like and don't. Sometimes I know right away, other times it takes weeks.

something I do a lot. Before TVs morphed into sheets of glass I would park my new hollow forms there and study the shape and curves curves imagining what I would do differently on the next one.
now they sit on a seldom used table.

 

[Timothy White]

Brian: great looking bowl!
IMHO simplicity has a beauty that embellishment can ruin.
Jeff Foxworthy asked the question: “Have you ever seen glitter paint on a yacht?”
Simple doesn’t mean easy.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Great ideas.. I like the thought of putting them up somewhere to just look at them in passing and "notice" details about them that I might want to change up or try something different.. Most of my work all sits on my shop desk in front of the door, I pass by them each day I go in.. the very few visitors I have had always seem to comment "Great work, beautiful, gorgeous" on my facebook page (and sold a cutting board - my first and only sale so far) Unfortunately for me, I know of no other turners in the area (other than one in aaw member directory) within any sort of reasonable distance to really visit and/or interact with (and as I mentioned in another post somewhere - nearest turner's club or guild is over 2 1/2 hours drive one way) so pretty much if I'm to find a mentor (My hope is if I can do a few of the local yard sales and farmer's markets, I might meet one or two turners in the crowds at random..) it is either gonna be a matter of luck locally, or I have to get together with one remotely or via facebook .. But in the meantime - That's why I posted here... and some great tips I appreciate , some stuff to think about..

I have quite a few roughed out blanks in Apple and Cherry (and a couple pieces of punky Hornbeam/Ironwood) and a few (end grain sealed) whole logs in cherry and ash still, so plenty enough to keep me busy for a little while.. Great thing is around here, lot of loggers and arborists on my friends list (One of the arborists was why I had fresh apple to work with, - gave me a heads-up the very same day he was taking it down, and helped me load some chunks and the source of the magnolia too (just told me where it was by the road and to stop by and pick up whatever I wanted of it) Cherry, Hornbeam, and ash is basically in my back yard as trees are being taken down by the trailer park owner (some were windblown or lightning struck, and the ash is all infested with emerald ash borer) so whenever he does some more cutting I can grab my saw and cut up some more chunks..