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Turning Bowls

L

Lee MArtin

Joined
Jan 11, 2009
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Hey, I am new to wood turning and I would like to turn some bowls. I was wondering how to glue up turning blanks for bowls. I have a portable bandsaw sawmill and I was wondering if it would be ok to saw my blannks to the thickness that I wanted.
 
Lee, you are quite right. You can saw the logs to the thickness you want. Kiln dried boards can be glued up to make a bowl blank and if you've seen some of the segmented work or the " bowls from a board" work here on on other forums you will have an idea of what I'm talking about.

If you are not already a member of your local turning club I highly recommend you locate the nearest one and join in. Check for it here...

http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp
 
Only problem with using saw cut pieces is that the facings don't always line up parallel to one another and you end up with gaps between the resulting layers. But if that's not a concern them gluing up pieces off of the saw will work. I would try to at least get a planed surface though - easier to work with.
 
When I was starting out doing bowl work I glued up a lot of Aspen blanks. I just bought 1x6 pieces and crosscut them to about 6" long. Then put a thick coat of yellow glue (I use probond) and clamp it. I always let it sit at least overnight in the clamps.
 
Lee MArtin said:
Hey, I am new to wood turning and I would like to turn some bowls. I was wondering how to glue up turning blanks for bowls. I have a portable bandsaw sawmill and I was wondering if it would be ok to saw my blannks to the thickness that I wanted.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Start out with blanks about 4" thick and if you have a bandsaw, cut out circles. Wet wood is fine, consider all of them practice. Get with a local club or buy some books so you understand what tools, approach to the end result, sharpening, faceplate and chuck work, etc.
 
If you are going to layer a series of blanks, why not turn each blank on the lathe, smoothing both surfaces of the blanks, with practice you will get the perfect fit for glueing and clamping together. If you are layering three or more blanks you can cut out the centre of the inner blanks with the cut off chisel leaving the ring to clamp between the two full blanks. bobcol.
 
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