Bowls ball bowl

[Wood4me]

For some reason I decided to challenge myself and turn a bowl from a Lignum Vitae bowls ball, and the aim for it to be as thin as possible and end grain . I never turn ‘straight forward’ bowls and very rarely with a flat top…
Well I suppose I failed really as in the attempt to make it thin I broke thru the side . I managed to turn the complete bowl with a wall thickness of about 1.5 mm and it weighs just 35 grams. ( just over an once) What I got wrong was the final clean up with Abranet. As it was end grain there is an area near the top between very hard annual rings that pulled away surprisingly easily. I decided to stick with it and ‘finish’ it , tho it will serve no useful purpose. Don’t think I can get away with calling the break thru areas ‘ a feature’
Haven’t turned anything for several years so at least it was good to sort out the lathe and have a go ….

 

[Richard_C]

Unlucky after all that work. Pop it back in, you still have the tenon, make a shallow bowl

I have a bowling ball sitting on the bench, can't decide if it will be a bowl or a small mallet.

 

[Wood4me]

“I have a bowling ball sitting on the bench, can't decide if it will be a bowl or a small mallet”
I think it’s got to be a half ball bowl of less than 35 grams

 

[TRITON]

I've 3 bowling balls. Problem is i cut one up(id 4) and what its shown me is it is spiidered all over it with lots of tiny cracks. probably came from the bowls bashing into each other during their lifetimes use on a council bowling green. I'm not sure if i can use them for anything really.

 

[Inspector]

Nah. A hollow spherical turning made through a hole in the top you can't get a finger into. Then you don't have to sand it smooth inside.......unless you want to. I guess it should weigh less than 88 grams just to make it easy. No I couldn't do it myself so wouldn't even try.

Pete

 

[Sachakins]

The only way I could get it to 35 grams, would be to glue the sawdust to half a quails egg shell....

 

[MikeO]

I had spare bowling ball so cut into 4 on bands saw and turned different things. Seems a shame but now got some lovely items showing off the nice grain.

 

[Richard_C]

so cut into 4 on bands saw

Interesting. I'm guessing the first cut was the equator, but what then, discs or quadrants? How did you stop it rolling about on the saw, make a jig or strong hands and good fortune?

 

[johnnyb]

lignum is an amazing wood. and bowling balls are usually made without the pith( unlike many carving mallets.) they use it for propellor bearings on boats. also john harrison used it on many of his early clocks as its self lubricating. heavy bails used to be lignum( for windy days)

 

[MikeO]

Interesting. I'm guessing the first cut was the equator, but what then, discs or quadrants? How did you stop it rolling about on the saw, make a jig or strong hands and good fortune?

Made a bowl shape in scrap wood fitted to a face plate then hot glued bowl into it. Drilled it then took a slice either side with parting off tool.(where the thumb/finger go) to give me a flat to rest on bandsaw table. Hot gluing much stronger than people think also supported it with live centre in tailstock. Once you have flat, cut into what you want.

 

[Wood4me]

Had to stiffen the outer rim for the latter stage of turning down to 1.5mm; glue gun worked well to fix the plywood ring . Managed to carefully cut it off when finished .

 

[Fergie 307]

lignum is an amazing wood. and bowling balls are usually made without the pith( unlike many carving mallets.) they use it for propellor bearings on boats. also john harrison used it on many of his early clocks as its self lubricating. heavy bails used to be lignum( for windy days)

It was also commonly used in the bearings of large, town hall type clocks. Can't find the reference now but I'm sure I read an account of one in I think Germany somewhere still running on the original LV bearings after over 200 years. It is also used in bearings in hydro electric plants, ships and so forth. Have a look at the Lignum Vitae Mission. Amazing stuff

 

[Richard_C]

Made a bowl shape in scrap wood fitted to a face plate then hot glued bowl into it. Drilled it then took a slice either side with parting off tool.(where the thumb/finger go) to give me a flat to rest on bandsaw table. Hot gluing much stronger than people think also supported it with live centre in tailstock. Once you have flat, cut into what you want.

Thank for that... Gets me started when I get the current job off the lathe.

 

[Yorkieguy]

Not wishing to be pedantic, but the balls used for crown green bowling aren't called 'bowls' - they're called 'woods', though for a long time they've not been made of wood. For years, the lignum vitae ones have not been permissible for competition bowling, as they used to have to be checked and certified each year, and as necessary, weight added of removed in the end cap. There are no facilities today for that.

That said, they're widely referred to on eBay as 'bowls', at unrealistic asking prices, given that they're worthless for their intended use. I wouldn't pay more than a tenner for one, at most:

lignum vitae bowls - Search

From time to time, they pop up in second-hand shops, often in pairs in a purpose-made bag. They're sometimes sliced in half to make clocks with a small clock movement inserted on the flat face and a flat put on perimeter to allow the clock to sit at an angle of maybe 20 degrees. Over the years, projects made from Lignum Vitae have been submitted in our woodturning club competitions.

I've made a few little bowls and mallets, such as the one in the attached pictures, with an ash handle.

Also, a pic of a truncheon.

Both are quite persuasive in their intended roles!

Lignum Vitae is saturated with natural oils which - from friction with a polishing cloth - come to the surface and give a lovely sheen.

The export of Lignum Vitae and certain other endangered timber is unlawful under CITES regulations, but I heard that the one of the untended consequences is that if timber can't be grown commercially, there's little incentive to plant trees which can't be harvested, so CITES may conserve what's left, but wont do anything to get certain species off the endangered list. As a whole, people aren't as impassioned about preserving plant life (flora) in quite the way that are about fauna.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

Hope that's of interest.

David.

 

[Richard_C]

Yes, well put. My bowl is a wood, just joined a local woodturning club and another member who also bowls brought a few in - much less than £10 to go to his bowling club funds. Impulse buy hence what to do with it thinking.