Turning a bowl edge?

[Jim Bennett]

I’m working on a segmented bowl - fairly simple 9” salad bowl with two padauk trim rings, a padauk top ring, and the rest is maple. I’ve pretty much completed shaping the exterior and am getting close to final wall thicknessing. After that comes the rabbet for the bottom. Not any problem with those steps. Where I do have a question is when I flip the bowl around and have to shape the top padauk ring. I’m using Carter Axe carbide tools and assume that I would proceed using the round tip tool. Is there any special procedure I should follow to round over that ring? My experience so far with this wood variety is that it is quite prone to shattering / splitting, etc. if not babied. As you can tell, I’m a real newbie to turning!

Thanks, Jim

 

[Owen Lowe]

You’re right that padauk can be pretty splintery. For that reason, I’d definitely make a rounded top profile using very gentle pressure with the tool. This bead profile will help the ring absorb bumps and abrasions of use.

You’re also correct that, of the Axe tools the round bit would probably be the best to achieve this. Gentle pressure and light scraping is the order here.

 

[john lucas]

Hold the handle higher than the scraping edge and take extremely light passes. I mean really really light. Kind of like spraying paint. 4 light coats are far better to control than one heavy one. I'm not a fan of the scraping tools. In this case a negative rake scraper would be good, or a skew on it's side. The others can be too aggressive very rapidly.

 

[Mike Johnson]

A scraper or skew on its side might be the easiest method for a beginning turner.
Light passes with a sharp tool will limit splintering.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Look at the way that the grain is oriented in the segments that make up the top ring and then if possible try to cut in the direction where the fibers are being supported.

 

[john lucas]

The reason I say use a skew on it's side is most of the problems newer turners have is starting the cut at the lip of a vessel. If you don't have the flute oriented correctly you get a kick back and it tears off the lip. The bowl is also flexible at this stage and often the lip is slightly out of round which also wants to grab the tool. Be aware that a skew gets dull really fast when used this way and won't cut as clean. I will often re sharpen it just before using it this way. The reason I do is when you sharpen on a grinder it raises a small burr. You can feel it. Use the skew with the burr up and you get a nice clean cut but the burr wears off fast so after just a pass or so you would need to do it again. With the burr worn off it still does a pretty good job it will just require more sanding.