bowls

Hi Kevin

I do have an album that shows the end results of finishing my bowls/patters, etc

However the way to get there is not always the same, depending on size and shape, and on whatever you have on "tools" to do the finishing, by" tools" I mean chucks like donut chucks, or jam chucks or cole jaws etc. here's the address to the bowl bottom album

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Kevin I have three basic ways to finish off a bowl bottom.

1) jam chucking 2) working the bottom against a sanding pad held in the lathe 3) using home-made large jaws (see the web site) in the past I have also used a compression or dough-nut chuck.

What are you after? You trying to make them ornate or presentable?

Presentable is easy. You just set up the bottom prior to reversing on a chuck to hollow .

For a strictly inside hold. Which allows hold inside or out. All that's required prior to finish is a brief cleanup of chuck artifact, which you can see in the bottom of the recess. If you want to do more elaborate versions, you'll need to reverse after hollowing and hold by one of the many methods others recommend. I'd favor a Longworth for ease of use, though I paid for the Cole jaws, and use them when I need them.

It's really not that expensive if you buy used parts, Derek.. I'm in the process of setting mine up now... main parts were from Bill Noble for less that $200... I figure that if I didn't already have plumbing fittings and stuff, that's another $20 to $40 including a couple of sealed bearings..

Mac

here is a cheap way that I have used to turn the bottom of my bowls (natural edge) I usually have a tenon on the bottom and mark the center with the skew I have a piece of 3/4 inch ply 9 inch round mounted on the chuck I then put the bowl in a small rubber ball and place it up against the flat surface of the ply in the chuck, bring up the tail and center into the bowl bottom apply pressure to the ball turn by hand to get to turn round and take off the bottom as far as I can reach. The rest ( about the size of a pencil) I sand off by hand and finish. Speed is important and getting the bowl to turn round is good but I have done this many times with good success. Gordon