First bowl and a string of questions

[LocalOak]

Hi

Having played with my new but very old Myford ML8 for a bit I have tried my hand at making a bowl. This is my first proper attempt at it and I realise turning can become seriously addictive.

I did it with the set of carbon steel tools I inherited with the lathe, and grinding them sharp is still pretty hit and miss. I cut a round from a piece of 2 1/2 inch oak, glued it to a blank screwed to a faceplate. No chuck or turning it around or anything like that. Used mainly a round nosed scraper and bowl gouge, and a small bit of pointed scraper to produce the bit of beading at the top of the bowl.

Did everything by eye and finger, and I have discovered what is probably an ancient technique for getting the bowl walls thin. Apply the bowl gouge, lose concentration, dig in and have shave to everything back down to remove the deep groove. Did this a number of times and you eventually get an acceptably thin wall

I struggle to part well, and find the parting tools bounces around a lot and much to my frustration managed to pop the bowl off before I was ready, had sanded but not coated. Had to pare off the remaining spigot. Coated by by hand and couldn't get the same lustre, and having no vacuum chuck, or anything chuck like at all, have had to accept that. [Edited this para to make sense, previous version didn't]

I have loads of questions but the main one is about finishing. I use refined beeswax for the oak things I've made before but when I applied it to this bowl what was a 400 grit smooth finish raised up instantly and the whole bowl is now rough. I've never had this problem before so my question is what could I use for turned oak and in what order should I apply it?

Here are some pics, not great but they show the shape. Its about 4 inches across and is based on nothing except what came out of my hands and gouges as I went at it.

Thanks

Toby

 

[CHJ]

Toby you need to seal the wood surface with a sanding sealer before applying any finish to prevent any solvents in the wax penetrating the wood and raising the grain.


The alternate is to apply your wax with fine abrasive, in effect forming a wax slurry as you remove any lifting gain, but I would not advocate that as something I would want to do.

Sometimes used with finishing oils though.

 

[LocalOak]

Thanks CHJ,

Should have realised that. Is it OK to sand it back, seal, and re-wax?

Toby

 

[cornucopia]

personally I don’t like wax finish's- I prefer oil's like lemon oil or danish etc- I love to wet sand oak with oil as you get a silky smooth finish and no dust.
now that you've waxed it you can’t easily go back and seal on top of the wax so I would denib with some 320 or 400 then re-apply the wax by hand

 

[miles_hot]

Damn good first effort there - frankly a rather good third or fourth too! Design wise the foot might be a little wide for the rim - think in terms of thirds - but other than that I'd be very pleased with it

You are right about the ancient method - it is one that has often been used and can also be used to "work with the wood" and "expose" a rather shallower bowl than was originally envisaged - it's important to listen to what the wood want to do, especially if the wood is kind enough to whisper in your ear as it performs a fly by

As others have said I'd de-nib the roughness and re-coat in wax. Generally I'd stay away from beeswax as bowls etc get handled a lot and eventually your precious finish will dull. Oils and / or Microcrystalline wax and / or buffing seem to be current favourites.

Looking forward to the next example.

Miles

 

[ro]

Very nice - that's a bowl to be proud of!

I've just tried turning some oak and found it to be a pipper to finish, the very open grain just wouldn't seal for me

I managed to discover the same technique as you for thin walls, but in my case it resulted in a section near the bottom that's pretty translucent!

 

[loz]

For a first bowl Toby you can we well pleased - its fab, with a nice curve, normally first bowls are dog bowls - straight sided things.

Very well done,

You'll get plenty of advice here re finishing by the more experience than me, who often has to cut back anything i apply !

Regs and welcome !

Loz

 

[LocalOak]

Thanks very much for your positive comments, I am beginning to realise that I have been bitten by the turning bug. It's fascinating and highly creative.

Loads more to learn...

Toby

 

[guyandzoe]

Thats a good effort for first time. i would advise you to try to cut bowls with the gouge and use the scraper as little as possible. But as you see for yourself anything that ends up with a bowl is an acceptable method. How you get there doesnt matter so long as you are satisfied with the result.

I'm guessing the first bowl took ages. you'll be surprised by how that time will shrink with practice. And you'll learn how to make the piece look better by design and the use of better mounting techniques and tooling.

Keep this first bowl. bring it out each year to see the improvement that you didnt understand you had made or when future bowls go wrong you may find they are better than you suppose.

 

[Harlequin]

good effort , the other minor gripes will resolve with time.

when starting off with turning I would recommend that you use woods like sycamore and cherry. They behave well and the feedback that you get from the experience is not only good but often very positive with good pieces turning out.