first bowl done -advice please

[trojan62]

hi all,
well finally here is my first bowl, definatley far from perfect but its a start.
please give me your honest opinions and tell me if there is something i should have done, or if i did do it, did i do it right.
you can see the inside and outside do still have quite a few scratches. how do you get the inside and outside so smooth, continuos sanding with quality paper i suspose, at the moment ive only got some crappy pound shop stuff.

2 questions: can you identify the wood, i picked up a piece in the woods that are behind my house
and also how can you get the surfaces reletivly smooth requiring less sanding, it seemed like i had to do a hellof a lot of sanding to get to this stage.

whats the sand paper recommended by the forum members, sorry that 3 questions.....

cheers

chris.....

 

[CHJ]

I'll make a start,

• First:-- of all well done on having a go.
  Second:- You have chosen to turn a bowl in end grain orientation, not the normal orientation and at the same time the most difficult for a beginner. See this guide
  Third:-- Abrasives are a cutting tool, cheap and cheerful will not cut it as far as performance and quality of finish, most brands sold by the more prominent finishes and wood work tool stockists will be OK but like any other cutting tool you will in time develop a preference for one brand over another. Try as many brands as you can and see the difference in performance.
  Fourth:-Sand with the grain with the lathe stationary, don't move down to finer grades until any tool or coarser sanding marks are removed. Look up shear scraping as a means of refining surface, try coating the surface in sealer before final cuts.

 

[trojan62]

thanks for the advice chj,
yea, like you said the log i had was cut in slice end grain, i only relised later seeing it on the net, that they usualy cut the log lenghways.
cheers


chris.....

 

[SteveF]

that is great

first time...very impressive
although it is end grain ...look at the grain on that (very nice)
toll marks are a pain for us beginners
I am getting there but almost a year later I still struggle
as said sand with the grain and remove the tool marks before moving on
otherwise you will sand thru the grits and at the end just have to go back and start again

was this still green ?

Steve

 

[Woodmonkey]

Good first effort, that's a piece of oak judging by those rays. Try using a small rotary sanding pad held in a battery drill, the spinning disc should mean less scratch marks than holding a stationary piece of paper.

 

[trojan62]

thanks for the replies.
yeah this was a piece of green wood. the bowl feels quite heavy like there is still some moisture in there....

cheers

chris.....

 

[nicguthrie]

Very nice first try!

I still have my first bowl, admittedly it was about 18 months, 500 youtube videos and 6 more actual bowls ago, cos of my circumstances, and from a fellow beginner, I'd say well done on jumping right in there.

I'd suggest Keith Rowleys "Woodturning - A foundation course" as a stellar book for teaching basics, he covers a lot of the things you'll be asking as you learn, like how to better control the tools, how to get better finishes and the extremely important area of safety. It's a great book. If you're not that much of a reader, there's also some very good YouTube channels that are full of tips and help - a lot of it full of americanisms, but us brits can just about translate

I'd recommend Cap'n Eddie Castelin and Carl Jacobson as two that I remember off the top of my head to have a lot of good videos.

In my fairly well read, but pretty inexperienced opinion, the best way to avoid those scratch marks for a beginner is to keep working thru all the different grades of sanding paper, down to whatever your wished-for level of smoothness is, without skipping any. Stop the lathe once you've finished with each grit, and give it a quick sand in the direction of the grain to help remove any circular scratching from that grit. Chuck the cheap and cheerful paper (or keep it for cheap and cheerful work!) and buy something like Abranet or Vitrex cloth-backed stuff from stiles and bates. Abranet is pretty economical cos it lasts an age per sheet, the Vitrex stuff is great for following curves withough folding and causing scratches.

Congrats though on the first bowl, I look forward to seeing the next and the next and the....

Nic.

 

[KimG]

Well done! Nothing like the first one to give you some confidence.

In addition to all the previous advice I would add something which will apply a little later, that is regarding the mount. You have used an expanding Jaw inside the base, you may find later that a foot and a contracting Jaw are better, the primary reason has nothing to do with the base itself, or the means of mounting, but with the thickness of the base of the bowl, with a hollow and an expanding jaw type of base such as this, it is obviously necessary to leave close to double the wall thickness at the base of the bowl to avoid going through, but with an external foot you can have a very nice, near constant wall thickness throughout the piece, and also nicely follow the outside shape on the inside. This will lead to a nicely balanced look and feel to the bowl. You can always turn the foot off at the end if you don't like it.
Naturally this is something to work towards as you progress, but it is good to have such points in mind even from the beginning as they are the foundation of making such improvement.

 

[woodfarmer]

I like the shape. When the oak has really dried it may well have changed shape. may even split. but it could also be thin enough to just warp. I like the warped stuff, it is then that it will take a good shine. I have some little bits of "playing around " that would fit in well in a Tolkien set.

All the "free" green wood will allow you to get the movements and angles right. Just enjoy it and you will find some how you will have absorbed some learning. I have been turning on and off for a year now. I am beginning to learn enough to realise there is a lot I don't know.