First Bowl in 40 odd years. Exciting!

[Tinbasher]

So I finally got down to actually turning something. The last time I turned anything it was at school and it was a partly finished bowl, unfinished because I knocked the tip of my thumb off and blood stopped play.

I mounted the sycamore blank on a screw chuck and turned the outside. I was reasonably pleased with the result, the shape felt good, the "decoration" less so but it disguises a last second dig in!

I turned the mortice on the bottom to take the chuck and mounted the bowl relatively easily and started on the inside. I had got this far 40 years ago so i guess I was a bit cautious. Then BANG the wing of my bowl gouge dug in and the bowl flew over my left shoulder!

After a change of underwear I dug the bowl out from under the bench and the chuck had torn right out of the bowl ripping away the mounting mortice.

But I really enjoyed myself and no blood was shed!

I was able to remount the bowl on my screw chuck and turn the broken base off and have started on a new mounting mortice which will be deeper and more accurate. Any comments on the bowl so far as it got welcome but be gentle

Tin

 

[Wood spoiler]

Happiness is a man in shavings, in his shed with Tea. Does life get better than that?

The bowl is looking good but the smile says more!

Keep going I'm sure the addiction has already bitten

 

[gus3049]

Only another 40 years to go.

I see no protection of any kind. Naughty naughty. Dust mask/goggles minimum please sir.

When it let go, it could have hit you rather than fly over your shoulder. I used to think that my glasses were adequate protection. That was before I got a splinter of yew in my eye.

The bowl looks fine to me. Welcome back.

 

[myturn]

Try grinding back the wings on the bowl gouge, when I did this it more or less put a stop to such catches.

 

[boysie39]

Great stuff Tin,
Good to see somebody smiling after 40 yrs.of will I or wont I and then doing it. =D> =D>
I dont know which you should keep as a momento of your return, the bowl or your underwear.
Look fwd. to you up to your neck in shavings.

Take care.

 

[Jonzjob]

Well, I see that you have a pair of glasses on the top there, but as Gordon said face protection is a VERY good idea!

The bowl looks good for a firstun after all that time and also as said if you grind the bowl gouge with a fingernail grind, similar to you spindle gouge, it could well save heartaches.

I would also ditch the wolly jumper while turning. It's a real pain trying to get shavings and that off of it!! I have a couple of turning jackets that have the pockets in the back so they don't get filled with carp (I'm sure that 'r' in't in the right place?)

All in all, welcome back to the slippery slope. Please don't forget the safety though will you :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

As a matter of interest. If anyone ever tells you that they have never had a digin it's probably one of two reasons. Either they are lying or they have never turned anything :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

eeeeee... that lathe looks just like mine. 'cept mine has a tin cabinet under it.
The bowl looks good. I turned my first bowl (after a similar amount of time) out of a chunk of old pine I had lying around. I tried staining it, and didn't like the effect, so in the scrap bin it went. Suffice to say, it looked nowhere as good as yours.

Out of interest. I have a tool rest assembly on the outboard side of my lathe, which restricts access sometimes due to the bulk of the cast material it is made from. How to you support your tools when using the outboard side of yours?

 

[nev]

i agree, safety is most important. you should have at least two fingers in the handle of a mug of hot tea :mrgreen:

spookily, my woodwork o level was cut short because i too nearly took the top of a finger off with a newly sharpened chisel, handed to me by the teacher saying ' now mind you dont go cutting yourself....! #-o

and the bowl looks good, nice proportions.

 

[johnny.t.]

Well if you got as far as you did with the last one you made at school but this time kept the end of your thumb, then that must be an improvement! Just keep going and over time the catches stop happening. One bit of advice no one seems to have given though..... you need a cover for your tea as shavings are always a shock when gulping down that ,last mouthful!!!(I speak from experience!!!).

 

[CHJ]

Good start, as others have said just keep going it will come. Just learn the lessons of secure fitting and the fact that spalted timber might not be as sound as some.
Unfortunately things are a little harder for you in getting bowl gouge presentation correct by having to lean over the lathe in a restricted position because of the fixed head.
One not so obvious advantage to the situation being that once mastered with those limitations then it can only get easier when you go for the upgrade having been well and truly hooked.

If , no that's wrong, When you upgrade your lathe you can go for a swivel head to ease access and at the same time explore differing lathe heights which can have a marked impact on tool presentation and control, of benefit for spindle work with fixed head lathes but is only available to you for bowls when the need to lean over the bed is removed.

 

[Tinbasher]

Only another 40 years to go.

I see no protection of any kind. Naughty naughty. Dust mask/goggles minimum please sir.

When it let go, it could have hit you rather than fly over your shoulder. I used to think that my glasses were adequate protection. That was before I got a splinter of yew in my eye.

The bowl looks fine to me. Welcome back.

I find drinking tea with my dust mask on a tad difficult!

I was wearing safety GLASSES and a dustmask (cheap gause one) but the flying bowl incident has put a full face shield on the top of the needs list.

Tin

 

[gus3049]

Only another 40 years to go.

I see no protection of any kind. Naughty naughty. Dust mask/goggles minimum please sir.

When it let go, it could have hit you rather than fly over your shoulder. I used to think that my glasses were adequate protection. That was before I got a splinter of yew in my eye.

The bowl looks fine to me. Welcome back.

I find drinking tea with my dust mask on a tad difficult!

I was wearing safety GLASSES and a dustmask (cheap gause one) but the flying bowl incident has put a full face shield on the top of the needs list.

Tin

Sorry about gran'ma and eggs. I didn't see the glasses perched up there!!

 

[Tinbasher]

CHJ: Yes I was finding the handle of the tool catching on the bed of the lathe, It isn't clear from the photo but I use a wheelchair and sit on an office swivel chair for turning so I am still experimenting on the best position. I made the bench a little lower after some advice from Tony Wilson.

Tazmaniandevil: Simple answer is I haven't tried the outboard end yet! But I did allow for the possibility of swinging the lathe out to access the outboard end. I know we have the same lathe I gave your three jaw chuck a nice warm home in the wee cupboard below

myturn: I can see how regrinding could help but I am not quite confident to have a go at that just yet. I may see if I can find a local turner who can do it for me.

After another cup of tea I thought there was still enough wood left in the bowl to remount it on my screw chuck so I did so and have turned the damaged area off, I will have a go at cutting another dovetail mortice for the chuck later.

Thats for the support.

Tin

 

[Jonzjob]

Gordon, would you like to borrow my specs mate? Safety ones of course :twisted:

As a matter of interest. About 6 years back I bought a new pair of safety specs here. France is renoun for expensive specs and these were no different and cost 400€ :shock: :shock: Ouch! In England I used to get them from Specsavers or Boots and they were about £100 and they lasted maybe up to 15 or 18 months before they were badly scratched or the frames gave up the ghost. These I have now have kevlar frames and the high impact lenses and are almost as good as when I got them. So they haven't turned out as expensive as they first seemed..

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

Tazmaniandevil: Simple answer is I haven't tried the outboard end yet! But I did allow for the possibility of swinging the lathe out to access the outboard end. I know we have the same lathe I gave your three jaw chuck a nice warm home in the wee cupboard below

Doh! #-o
I clean forgot about that.

 

[Tinbasher]

Well I finished the bowl and it isnt bad what with being a rescue job but I think its sometimes these jobs that teach you things.

1. I learned that even using the exact same hole and screw, remounting anything means you cannot be sure it will run concentrically again. And "rescuing" mistakes is as much fun as getting it right first time.

2. I need to learn to cut the mounting mortice more accurately (is there a special tool?)

3. I need a full face shield and dust protection.

4. You cannot drink tea through a dust mask.

 

[CHJ]

.....I need to learn to cut the mounting mortice more accurately (is there a special tool?).

Yes you, :lol: but I use a home made marking gauges to help get consistent results, once you have determined the optimum sizes for your jaws you never need to measure them again.

 

[Tinbasher]

Never been called a tool in a nice way before!

 

[Jonzjob]

I used to know a rather nice young lady who was nicknamed after a tool. She was called Spanner 'cause she tighned all the blokes nuts :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[jumps]

1. I learned that even using the exact same hole and screw, remounting anything means you cannot be sure it will run concentrically again. And "rescuing" mistakes is as much fun as getting it right first time.

2. I need to learn to cut the mounting mortice more accurately (is there a special tool?)

3. I need a full face shield and dust protection.

4. You cannot drink tea through a dust mask.

1. You seemed to have cut both a beveled spigot and a mortice to mount in either expansion or compression from the pic, although obviously you were using expansion from the 'damage'. Not an unusual situation (for me) so I have recovered a fair few. Generally I can still grip (with a 4 jaw) sufficiently to carefully cut a chucking ledge in the inside to re-reverse and recut the base. I mention this for the future as clearly this isn't an option here as so much has broken away. Generally cutting a mortice in a spigot like this is an extra risk as the grain has little strength in one plane.

2. Chas's natty little 'tool' is an excellent addition. As cropped up in another thread recently you need to establish the optimum diameter for both modes to get the maximum jaw contact - this is really important.

3. covered already - in this case you can, to a degree, 'buy' safety. I will admit to enjoying the relative freedom of good glasses and a small dust mask when working on v small pieces like pens and small boxes - but once there's any mass involved, and major sanding operations, it's 'full on'.

4. straw...

I liked the lines of the bowl - looking forward to seeing more.