Wormy elm. I have some cracking and punkiness around the opening. I might have to cut off the little rim.
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What’s on your lathe?
- Thread starter Rusty Nesmith
- Start date
Looking good Kent ! Love the rim.
Small oak "candy dish" going to be a donation for my sisters church "trivia night". I don't normally donate items but she did buy me a Trent Bosch hollowing system for Xmas sooooo I guess little brother will donate.
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I had turned some thicker bowls per a request out of maple and decided to turn a thicker walnut about a year ago.
The finished walnut was for me and just put it on the display shelf. The rim moved and every time I went by it it bothered me to the point I turned the bowl upside down
.
Finally decided I couldn’t take it anymore and was able to jam chuck it, cut a recess on the foot just deep enough for the chuck to hold and recut the rim. It is now 15-1/4” x 5” and I’m happy.
Since I was already at the lathe decided to finish turn a maple rouged out from early 2023, it measures 16 x 4.
The finished walnut was for me and just put it on the display shelf. The rim moved and every time I went by it it bothered me to the point I turned the bowl upside down
.Finally decided I couldn’t take it anymore and was able to jam chuck it, cut a recess on the foot just deep enough for the chuck to hold and recut the rim. It is now 15-1/4” x 5” and I’m happy
.Since I was already at the lathe decided to finish turn a maple rouged out from early 2023, it measures 16 x 4.
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I’ve blown up a couple going back to the rim after turning the bowl—you’re good!I had turned some thicker bowls per a request out of maple and decided to turn a thicker walnut about a year ago.
The finished walnut was for me and just put it on the display shelf. The rim moved and every time I went by it it bothered me to the point I turned the bowl upside down
Finally decided I couldn’t take it anymore and was able to jam chuck it, cut a recess on the foot just deep enough for the chuck to hold and recut the rim. It is now 15-1/4” x 5” and I’m happy
Since I was already at the lathe decided to finish turn a maple rouged out from early 2023, it measures 16 x 4.
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This one being a little thicker helped. It took a while since I was taking very light cuts and holding my breath
. Being left handed I was out of the line of fire!!
I’m a lefty also. I often turn from the “wrong” side of the lathe.This one being a little thicker helped. It took a while since I was taking very light cuts and holding my breath
How thick do you like for a bowl?I had turned some thicker bowls per a request out of maple and decided to turn a thicker walnut about a year ago.
The finished walnut was for me and just put it on the display shelf. The rim moved and every time I went by it it bothered me to the point I turned the bowl upside down
Finally decided I couldn’t take it anymore and was able to jam chuck it, cut a recess on the foot just deep enough for the chuck to hold and recut the rim. It is now 15-1/4” x 5” and I’m happy
Since I was already at the lathe decided to finish turn a maple rouged out from early 2023, it measures 16 x 4.
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I personally like 1/4”- 3/8”, just depends of the diameter and depth of the bowl I’m turning. The walnut above is 7/16” thick and the maple is 5/16” thick at the top of the rim. The slope of the rim also affects how thick the bowl appears. The walnut has a deeper slope and looks twice as thick as the maple when it is actually only 1/8” thicker.
I’ve made thinner bowls but just don’t like the feel. If it’s a larger bowl with a rim 3/8” to 7/16” I will usually do a gradual undercut to where I’m 1/4” thick about one inch below the rim. That with the sloped/beveled rim allows the thumb to wrap around the rim better.
I just turn them to what I like
All of my bowls are about 1/4 inch thick. I do once turn them. For some woods, I can leave them a bit thicker, maybe 5/16, but I never measure. With Pacific madrone, it is pretty essential for it to be 1/4 thick max. Maple and walnut, don't turn walnut any more, I can get away with 3/8 inch, but I never measure exactly.
robo hippy
robo hippy
I"m with you on that.
I usually make the bottom 1/3rd or so of a bowl a bit thicker - feels more substantial, better balanced, feels better in the hand. I usually don't like a thin, lightweight bowl - they usually feel cheap to me. Same with platters. And like the rim undercut, flared out, or both, like the one below.
Raffan wrote that if you make a bowl and like the way it feels, do the unthinkable - cut the bowl in half on the bandsaw to help what makes it better. That's hard to do! But at least would save smoothing and finish. What I do instead is make a measure with calipers and make a full-scale cross section drawing after the fact.
I had a student who wanted to make a bowl. I hadn't made any for a long time so I turned three variations (to make sure I remembered how!) and give him some ideas for design. I gave two away and one guy wanted to buy the other SO bad he begged and pleaded and offered $$ until my wife said just give it to him.
Due to the shape of the rim on this one, the mild outside ogee wall is fairly thin in the middle below the rim but the bottom is thicker giving a good feel.
JKJ
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Not on my lathe but will be on lathes in a few days.
A friend teaches a kid's turning group and my job was to prepare blanks for next week's project. Fortunately, I have plenty of dry wood.
The group has plenty of plain white soft maple but the idea for this project was to let them turn something different. Walnut, cherry, mahogany, spalted, persimmon, oak, rosewood, cedar, spectra ply, goncolo alves, and can't remember what else. What they don't use next week, they will another time.
JKJ
A friend teaches a kid's turning group and my job was to prepare blanks for next week's project. Fortunately, I have plenty of dry wood.
The group has plenty of plain white soft maple but the idea for this project was to let them turn something different. Walnut, cherry, mahogany, spalted, persimmon, oak, rosewood, cedar, spectra ply, goncolo alves, and can't remember what else. What they don't use next week, they will another time.
JKJ
@Odie
From the other message, to address the question of preventing cracks in B&W ebony...
I have accumulated and turned a bit of black and white ebony and love it. Most of mine came from the same dealer. He dips the entire blank in hot paraffin leaving a coat of wax MUCH thicker than Anchorseal. I think this really slows down the drying and allows the drying stresses to equalize before causing the cracks. I monitor the moisture loss by weight, and to be sure, a blank will take multiple years to dry. Not a good strategy if in a hurry! But I haven't had any cracks so I'm not sure if there's a better way..
And as Bill Boehme mentioned in that thread, Jim King from Iqutos was a huge proponent of boiling, not only the roughed blanks but large solid blanks. Apparently boiling temporarily softens and allows internal stresses to equalize so the wood will survive. Jim told me that some of the large Peruvian blocks I got from him (which came heavily waxed AND sealed in plastic wrap had to be boiled or they would self-destruct. And Stephen Russell and friends did a series of careful experiments on boiling in general. I retrieved all of Stephen Russel's boiling instructions from the Wayback Machine if anyone want's some details.
JKJ
From the other message, to address the question of preventing cracks in B&W ebony...
I have accumulated and turned a bit of black and white ebony and love it. Most of mine came from the same dealer. He dips the entire blank in hot paraffin leaving a coat of wax MUCH thicker than Anchorseal. I think this really slows down the drying and allows the drying stresses to equalize before causing the cracks. I monitor the moisture loss by weight, and to be sure, a blank will take multiple years to dry. Not a good strategy if in a hurry! But I haven't had any cracks so I'm not sure if there's a better way..
And as Bill Boehme mentioned in that thread, Jim King from Iqutos was a huge proponent of boiling, not only the roughed blanks but large solid blanks. Apparently boiling temporarily softens and allows internal stresses to equalize so the wood will survive. Jim told me that some of the large Peruvian blocks I got from him (which came heavily waxed AND sealed in plastic wrap had to be boiled or they would self-destruct. And Stephen Russell and friends did a series of careful experiments on boiling in general. I retrieved all of Stephen Russel's boiling instructions from the Wayback Machine if anyone want's some details.
JKJ
I am not the only one wondering if I will be able to turn all of the wood in my stash..... Well, at least before my birth certificate expires....
robo hippy
robo hippy
Ha! At my current rate of turning and the size of my stash i have at least 2, maybe 3 lifetimes of turning wood. I just don't want the ebony, olive, and rosewoods to get hauled to the burn pile when I kick off. (Although cocobolo burns very well!) I've designated a trusted woodturing friend to dispose of the wood and tools in whatever manner he sees fit.
JKJ
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Quite cool! Great form.
Carol it is good to know that you are still around, very nice piece.
Stunner!
I roughed out this Natural edge ambrosia Maple bowl a few years ago. I had left a little extra wood at the base with plans of carving feet. Unfortunately there was a loose knot that made be change my plan. It is a little over 16" at the widest part so maybe it is better having a flat base.
I did have to use a little epoxy and sawdust on the void from the loose knot.
I did have to use a little epoxy and sawdust on the void from the loose knot.
Working on a 10-3/4” Leopard wood bowl. It is definitely some very hard wood. I have a second pewa drying to mend a crack and it is rough sanded to 400g. As hard as it is it is some beautiful wood but I won’t rush to do another one of these. What looks like tear out at the bottom is actually the figure in the wood.
Bob
Bob
I'm second turning this Elm burl that is about 11". There is a void on the back side that I turned away as much as I could with out making a hole in the bowl. I'm still trying to decide how to deal with it. I might just leave it, or use a colored epoxy, brass filings or sawdust. When I turn it around to do the foot I hope to get some inspiration on what to do. The bowl isn't as thick as it looks here, the rim is sloping down and undercut.
I should have taken a picture of the void to get some suggestions on how to deal with it.
I should have taken a picture of the void to get some suggestions on how to deal with it.
Hard to tell without seeing the void, it could be a nice contrast to the inside. I have left voids and other imperfections on the outside of bowls and I think most add character to the bowl, especially if the inside is as good as this one.