I turned my first bowl tonight. Definitely a learning experience. I had a screw break off but got it out. I made a tenon that held up. I managed to bump the bowl off the chuck not once but 4 times. Ultimately, I’m happy with the results. I believe this is American elm. I should say I don’t have a bowl gouge yet. I used a combination of tools to get here. Finished with a bees way wood conditioner then an oil based shellac friction polish. I added the burnish to the lip for contrast.
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My first bowl.
- Thread starter Vance Stringham
- Start date
Nice work! What's important part is how you feel about it. I'm glad to hear you're happy with the results. The finish is fantastic and the wood grain very attractive. Here's to many more!
Pretty good for a first bowl.
Looks really good! How did you do the burnishing?
Yeah agreed with the above, that's nice work for a first bowl.
I hollowed out about a dozen bowls many years ago with a skew, laying it flat on the tool rest like a really pointy negative rake scraper. It was slow and the final result meant a LOT of 80 grit Sandpaper lol but I had fun, and still have a couple of those turnings sitting around.
I hollowed out about a dozen bowls many years ago with a skew, laying it flat on the tool rest like a really pointy negative rake scraper. It was slow and the final result meant a LOT of 80 grit Sandpaper lol but I had fun, and still have a couple of those turnings sitting around.
Looks good. Before I read your post, I looked at the pictures. I would have guessed osage orange as the wood. If your face plate screw broke off, that would make me think osage again. It is very hard. Elm is a lot softer. Osage smell when turning makes me think of old tires when I turn it. Elm, well it smells like the cats have been spraying it.
robo hippy
robo hippy
Well done, keep at it!
Simple …a dry shop cloth and friction while it spun on the lathe. I pressed the cloth and let the heat build. I kept an eye on it making sure it didn’t reach a flash point or start to get crumbly. It, too, started with the finish so I’m sure that helped.
…I read that about elm. I didn’t notice much smell at all. It had come down in a storm about a year ago. I’m familiar with Osage and would love to get my hands on some .
Nice work, especially for your first. Learning experience is still experience.
Nice. Be sure to mark this bowl #1 with date, and save it to see how you progress over the years.
I want to echo all previous complements - well done.
Great!
That's a great first bowl. Now get yourself a real bowl gouge; it will make your next project vastly easier. And also, get yourself some time with a local club mentor. Learning to make a curve by moving your whole trunk is your next step, and it's quick and easy in person, but nearly impossible to do remotely.
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A nice first bowl
A 2nd on @Dean Center ’s comment. If you can connect with a local club, find a mentor or watch an accomplished turner.
You can get some guidance on tools to get.
You have many choices with bowl gouges- flute design- grind- sharpening technique - cuts you can make…..
All these choices are not the beginners freind…
Taking a workshop or having a mentor will focus you toward a particular gouge, flut and give you a few skills that let you enjoy woodturning.
In my basic bowl turning class you would start with a carving mallet. Get familiar with the Ellsworth ground bowl gouge and a 3/8 spindle gouge. The next class you do a 8-10” bowl. We’d add in the round nose scraper. You’d use the bevel riding push cut, shear scraping, scraping. Learn to turn curves, sharpening…..
Another mentor might teach the 40/40 methods and tools.
A 2nd on @Dean Center ’s comment. If you can connect with a local club, find a mentor or watch an accomplished turner.
You can get some guidance on tools to get.
You have many choices with bowl gouges- flute design- grind- sharpening technique - cuts you can make…..
All these choices are not the beginners freind…
Taking a workshop or having a mentor will focus you toward a particular gouge, flut and give you a few skills that let you enjoy woodturning.
In my basic bowl turning class you would start with a carving mallet. Get familiar with the Ellsworth ground bowl gouge and a 3/8 spindle gouge. The next class you do a 8-10” bowl. We’d add in the round nose scraper. You’d use the bevel riding push cut, shear scraping, scraping. Learn to turn curves, sharpening…..
Another mentor might teach the 40/40 methods and tools.
Thank you for the insight. I have found an instructor not that far from me. I do plan to take some lessons. I may also reach out to you as I spend a week or two not far from you each February, in Holiday.
Super first bowl! Wow.
Very nice first bowl.
Very nice bowl! The finish looks really shiny and smooth which I hard to achieve for a first bowl!
I promise it is. It was an adventure.
I’ve been watching turning videos since 2020. I made the decision to actually get into turning in late 2021. I started reading books about turning in 22. I bought my lathe used, a Jet JML-1014, in June of 2023. It came with an assortment of tools. I bought a bunch of basswood blanks and didn’t try to make anything in particular, just wanted to learn. The bowl is a combination of beginners luck and slow and steady patience. The parts you didn’t see what the 4 times I knocked it out of the chuck, each time I mis-presented the spindle gouge. I don’t have a bowl gouge just yet. The bowl ended up 4” at the top. If I didn’t have to overcome some tool marks and dings from hitting the shop floor, it may have been closer to 5”.
Get one. It’s dangerous to turn a bowl with a spindle gouge. Be careful.