Square-Edge Bowl

Barry You only hit them once! Trust me, the learning curve is a quick one. I usually sand these with the lathe off.

Barry, as Darrell said you only do it once and then learn to keep your hands well clear of the edges. Darrell, I use a power sander to sand the bowls but do it very carefully. After a couple of bowls one learns to hold the sander very lightly against the bowl. I only lost a couple corners of a couple bowls but I sure developed good reflexes. :)

I like to use the opposite color method to help with the wings. Lay a light-colored piece of cardboard under/behind a darker wood, opposite for light.

You can also play with your lighting, of course, but it seems the best view of the "ghost" wings comes from a spot position that you block immediately as you start sanding.

Got pin jaws for the Nova? Try the method in

and a few "Next>" taps. As Darrell says, sanding with lathe off is a good choice, and since you can sand in straight lines more easily with square stuff, it's often my first choice inside.

Lathe-off sanding also lessens the tendency to round any crisp edges.

Saw Stewart Batty make a square edge bowl in a turning club video once. Noticed he had a finger missing. Always wondered if there was a connection...

...Kevin

A method that has been mentioned here is to hot-glue on some waste wood around the square, so you can turn and sand full-round, then pop off the waste wood and clean up the finished edges when you're done with the faces.

Makes me wonder too. If you take a look around.............a lot of woodworkers have one or more fingers missing.

Barry

That sounds like a viable alternative, although I was doing okay avoiding the corners until my hand slipped.

Barry

been there, done that... especially while learning to make Angel Wing bowls from Darrell's site!

(Hurts like a sumbitch when the wing comes around and raps your knuckle, too)

I use 2 lines of defense now:

I buy the "turner's bargain box" of roll-ends from

It's good sandpaper cheap and has a VERY thick backing... I've found that if I take a 10 or 12" piece and bend it almost double, it forms sort of an oval shape that can be held at one end and let "flap" on the surface to be sanded... the loop and backing form sort of a shock absorber and you don't get smacked OR vibrated to death.. If I have to make contact with the moving wings, I keep a couple of chunks of 2" foam rubber to wrap the sandpaper around and keep my fingers on the non-sanding side of the foam...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

yep.. it's those damned "until"s that get me every time.. *g*

If you do power sand them, the H&L pads that go between the disk and the sandpaper are really a big help.. cushion the shock and do nicely on odd shaped stuff..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Barry, I can relate, even though I haven't had that experience. I have had my knuckles rapped a few times. One friend of mine glues blanks of secondary woon onto the square edges (with paper inbetween) so that the bowl will be round when finished, until you remove the blanks. As with natural edged bowls, it is better to sand the wings without the lathe on. Not only because of the hazard of knocks and cuts, but also because you will round the edges over more than what looks proper. robo hippy