Advice on cutting bowl blanks please

[Mr Chips]

Hi I'm after some advice on the best way to cut bowl blanks for turning with out the use of a bandsaw, I have a table saw and a chainsaw, I've not had much luck with the chainsaw in the past and worried bout wasting good wood while I practice
I'm going to buy a bench top bandsaw as soon as I sell my tablesaw but for now I need to find another way so i can keep turning any help or advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[paulm]

What kind of problems have you had using the chainsaw in the past and what kind of pieces of timber are you starting with (size and shape wise) ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[Mr Chips]

Hi paulm thanks for your reply. I've been using oak, cedar and apple, logs are around 30" to 50" in diameter cutting them in half and removing the pith is not a problem but getting the half logs to a roundish shape to turn on my lathe is where my problem lies, my lathe isn't the best and anything slightly off balance shakes my lathe and is unable to turn

 

[Paul Hannaby]

Before I had a bandsaw, I used to cut the corners of a square blank so I started turning with an octagonal blank. It doesn't take long to turn one of those into a circle.

Now I have a bandsaw, I often still cut octagonal blanks because it saves the saw blade!

 

[Mr Chips]

Thanks Paul will give it a go and hopefully won't waste to much good wood,
Thanks again for your help

 

[procell]

When thinking about a bandsaw try to get the best you can afford. Take into account the depth of cut you can get with it. most table top saws only cut to about 80mm/4"
Most people on these forums would also suggest contacting Ian at Tuff saws for some blades. Even on the cheaper saws his blades can make a world of difference.

 

[Mr Chips]

Thanks procell I would love a large floor standing bandsaw but only have an 8' x 6' shed so space is limited, but will try to get the largest 1 I can fit. Thanks

 

[Paul.J]

Whats the biggest size blank your lathe can take?
I'd start off with a square blank,draw the size circle you want on it and as said above cut the corners off and work to the marked circle cutting as much off as you can,and as said get the biggest bandsaw you can with plenty of power,depending how big you want to cut of course??

 

[marcros]

what about an axe- i think it is a side axe that would do the job. in an 8x6 shed, with the lathe in, and presumably some form of sharpening setup, there isnt going to be much space left for even a small bandsaw.

the other thing that might work is a drawknife and a shave horse.

 

[procell]

Take a look at the fox bench bandsaws. the 28-186 can cut up to 150mm thickness. I recently got hold of one and with the Tuff saw blades its very good.

 

[paulm]

Should be possible to get a blank round enough with a chainsaw to be turnable, even leaving it as octagonal or as a hexagon is usually sufficient, although takes a bit more turning time and what wear you save on a bandsaw or chainsaw blade will be incurred on your turning gouges and extra time instead.

Even a round blank may still cause imbalance on the lathe due to differing densities of the timber eg between sapwood and heartwood, so being perfectly round won't necessarily avoid a bit of shaking and movement of the lathe.

You may need to look also at the robustness of your lathe and how it is mounted, once you have the blanks aspect sorted as best you can?

If you can vary the speed on the lathe you can usually find a sweet spot in the speed range where even an out of balance blank will behave itself reasonably well.

Cheers, Paul

 

[woodfarmer]

Years ago when building a boat, I used a power plane to shape large pieces of timber such as engine beds which were 10feet long 6 inches thick and tapered from 6 inches down to about 18-20 inches, (made of 100+ year old greenheart. thinks would rough shape wood blanks quite well. You will of course have a huge mound of woodchips

 

[KimG]

+1 for Paul's advice to check your lathe's robustness, i.e. how well is it fixed to a bench, how heavy is the bench? these factors have more impact than just about anything else, if the lathe has the swing over the bed then it should be able to cope with a blank, if it is shaking about too much then it would seem it is not securely mounted or the mount is not appropriate for the lathe. A good, heavy bench is a must.

Slow speed is also needed, if your lathe cannot slow down sufficiently then you must adapt the blanks to suit, make them smaller.

Out of interest, and it may prove helpful, what lathe do you have?