First Bowl experiment.

[nicguthrie]

I'm quite happy with this, it was my first bowl I finished, second that I tried my hand at.

It started as an experiment, using a thick chunk of gray, damp-marked and checked wood that was gifted to me by a friend, and I thought since it was about 4 inches deep, it would be the best bit that I had to try a proper bowl shape with. My first effort was a small ash thing about the size of an ashtray, and I screwed it up royally.

At the time I did this, I didn't have any bowl gouges that I could use so it's almost all turned with a 1.5 inch round tipped scraper, a half inch version (on my Turnmaster I bought for my wife) and a parting tool (for the base).

The first cut into the wood showed that it was actually far more lovely than the outside had even hinted at, so I slowed down, took it easy and tried to do it justice. It's finished with shelllawax, the cracks are filled with superglue and sanding dust.

If anyone can tell me what wood this is, I'd love to know. The colour is rich and warm, the grain pretty, and it took a nice finish very easily, so I'd love to work with it again.

Hints, tips and observations welcome. I got some burnishing stripes around the outside, and managed to crush the foot slightly in the jaws when I mounted it again to finish it. I've got a long way to go to manage to turn anything down to a nice thin wall, but I sort of faked it a bit by the edge, the walls are mostly about 1.5cm thick. I thought was best to leave plenty meat to them in this case, as there was actually rather a lot of small splits in the wood that didn't show up in the pic, I turned it so that they are mostly on the base. I've a lot to get to know about undercutting too, I tried a little on the sides here, It was fun, but I'm not even sure what tool I'm supposed to use.

Nic.

 

[joethedrummer]

Hi Nic,, I think that is a real tasty piece of work, of which I bet you are real proud,,,,

,,,joe,

 

[CHJ]

You set yourself some awkward challenges with the internals with that piece.
If you managed to get a reasonable finish from the tools on the side wall and rapid transition to the inner base at that depth you did well.
Regardless of actual tool finish, you have followed through to get an acceptable finish overall and that is all that a viewer will see and that is the most important aspect of any project.

 

[Dalboy]

Nice bowl for a second attempt looks good keep this one and in a year or 2 look back on it and see how you have progressed. Keep this standard up and you will be passing many who have been turning for a while

 

[Silverbirch]

Well done, especially for your second attempt. The timber appears to be beech, which is very nice to turn, but usually quite plain. Yours has a nice warm glow.

Ian

 

[Paul.J]

Well Nic for the tools you have used you have done a cracking job with this bowl,well done =D>
Noy sure on the wood but looks like some sort of Mahogany perhaps??
Get yourself a 3/8" or 1/2" good quality bowl gouge,Christmas is coming :wink: and that will do all what you turned here with this piece.
Try and keep things simple and this will help you gain confidence with your tools and the various woods you use.

 

[nicguthrie]

Thanks guys.

I deliberately set the shape as a challenge, had in mind a sort of thistle head. I'm not a very healthy fella, so I get to read and watch tutorials etc a lot more than I actually get to practice. It tends to mean that by the time I actually get to the lathe, if I can get a "feel" for the tools, I'm a little more advanced than I might normally be with my dozen or so things turned in total (mostly pens). It also holds some different from usual challenges, as although in some ways I'll have "learned" more advanced stuff before getting a chance to try it, without any practice I have less than half the reality of the learning, so in other ways, I'm far less advanced than I should be if I could practice regularly.

It took a nice finish, I got a lot of trouble with trying to make the transition and the inside base really smooth the whole way across, but I was pleased with the result after a fair bit of sanding. Kept the scrapers as sharp as I could and took very light cuts. Just copying what I'd read and seen on youtube.

Any ideas on the wood type? I'd really love to know.

Edit: Paul, thanks! I'm pretty sure it's not mahogany, though there's probably several varieties I've never seen. When it was first turned it was a fairly light peachy colour, reminded me a little of yew, but the grain seems tighter than any yew I've seen, and there was no sign of any sapwood in the chunk I had. As to keeping it simple - if I go for simple and screw it up, it's far more discouraging than screwing up a challenge

Edit 2: sorry, Silverbirch, I didn't notice you mentioning the wood. I've never really seen much beech, but right enough a buddy mentioned that the flecks in it meant that may be the stuff. Thanks for the confirmation.
Nic.

 

[winemaker]

Good job looks good to me =D>