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Re: First attempt at Bowl turning

You've taken the biggest step to turning bowls, the first. If this experience doesn't discourage you you'll be hooked soon.

Well I decedided try my luck turning a bowl. I chose walnut. Picked > up a slab of 1x6, cut it into 6"lengths and laminated them to a > height of 5". I hear Walnut makes a beautiful turning if I don't > mess it I.

I've used some walnut grade lumber, and found that it isn't the best. I had a piece of 8/4. Walnut can be turned to a great finish, but when too dry i've found it to be hard to get that good finish.

A couple of concerns, the tearout seems to be an issue, some of the > tears seem to be 1/16" deep, a lot of them on the end grain, tools > seem pretty sharp however. I suppose the tearout will be remedied > with some patience and a few sheets of 80 grit. The tearout occurs > mainly on the outside of the bowl.

Your tools need to be Sharp, not just pretty sharp, and kept that way, but more importantly a good finish comes from good technique - that means practice and patience.

Also my old lathe has what seems like 3/16 to 1/4" of play parallel > to the bed so's when I press on my gauge to hollow out the bowl the > workpeice moves a fair bit (3/16") back toward the headstock. Well > I just wanted to bounce this off you all and see what feedback it > may generate.

You're describing a lathe that is sorely in need of repair! The bearings either need to be tightened up or replaced. Any movement is bad, that much sounds like one (or more) of the bearing-caps has come loose and may be lost in the dust of the floor. Get it fixed first, then you'll find your turnings will be getting lots better.

mike

Reply to
Mike Vore
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I would recommend a suitable book or a demo from a local turner to get started. Bowls aren't like spindles. You would be better off using a bowl gouge.

Scrapers can be used but it will take you 3x-8x longer. Lots of good books around. I found Richard Raffan's bowl book to be very useful.

Jeff Jilg Austin, TX

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Reply to
Jeff Jilg

An edge is an edge. Bowl gouges work best in items deep relative to their diameter, and where they must reach out some distance over the toolrest. Outsides of bowls don't require one at all.

Fix the lathe and turn with what you have.

Reply to
George

When you get to the point where you are doing the final finishing cuts, resharpen your gouge to make sure you have a good edge and make light cuts. It also helps to have the edge of the gouge which is cutting at an angle (at least 45 degrees as a rule of thumb) to the work so a "slicing" or "shearing" cut is made.

Which way are you turning the outside of the bowl ? Assuming the direction of grain is across the bowl (side grain) and not up through it (end grain), you should turn the outside of the bowl from the smallest to the largest diameter. i.e. from the centre out. The inside of the bowl should be turned from the largest to the smallest diameter. i.e. from the edge of the bowl to the centre. This way you will minimise cuts made "against" the grain and should get less tearout as a result.

I would get it fixed so there was no play, this will cause lots of problems if you don't and could even be dangerous under some circumstances!

Cheers

Paul

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Reply to
Paul

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