frugal
Established Member
After playing with some spindle work I decided to have a try at a couple of bowls for the first time.
The first was from a walnut blank that I picked up from the Gloucester Woodturning Association a year ago. It is mostly sap wood rather than heart wood so it is very light. The bowl is a very simple shape. I was trying to figure out how to take the tenon off of the bottom when SWMBO said that she liked it so it stayed The bowl has a diameter of 6" and a height of 2".
The second is from one of three pieces of ash that I rescued from the firewood pile at a reenactment event last year. I needed to rough it to shape on the bandsaw before putting it on a screw chuck to rough it to a cylinder and cut the tenon. As my little lathe is not that heavy I needed to clamp it down to the workbench to stop it walking off of the end of the bench.
The walls are 5mm thick down the sides of the bowl, thickening out near the bottom as I bottled out of making the bottom as thin as the sides. It was originally going to have the top curving in more but that required more skill than I had and after a number of catches and a loss of nerve the sides ended up straight. The overall size is 8" in diameter and 4" high which is about as large as I am going to be able to manage on my little lathe. I was already having problems as the banjo could not fit under the bowl when it was on the lathe.
I must confess that I had real problems with the inside of the bowl and the only thing I am really happy with is the indentation in the bottom where I took off the tenon. I could not angle the bowl gouge to undercut the sides and the bottom (mainly because the rest I have is too short). I ended up using a scraper to do most of the inside, and it left some undulations on the inside.
Both bowls are finished with a coat of Chestnut Shellac Sanding Sealer and a couple of coats of clear Briwax.
The first was from a walnut blank that I picked up from the Gloucester Woodturning Association a year ago. It is mostly sap wood rather than heart wood so it is very light. The bowl is a very simple shape. I was trying to figure out how to take the tenon off of the bottom when SWMBO said that she liked it so it stayed The bowl has a diameter of 6" and a height of 2".
The second is from one of three pieces of ash that I rescued from the firewood pile at a reenactment event last year. I needed to rough it to shape on the bandsaw before putting it on a screw chuck to rough it to a cylinder and cut the tenon. As my little lathe is not that heavy I needed to clamp it down to the workbench to stop it walking off of the end of the bench.
The walls are 5mm thick down the sides of the bowl, thickening out near the bottom as I bottled out of making the bottom as thin as the sides. It was originally going to have the top curving in more but that required more skill than I had and after a number of catches and a loss of nerve the sides ended up straight. The overall size is 8" in diameter and 4" high which is about as large as I am going to be able to manage on my little lathe. I was already having problems as the banjo could not fit under the bowl when it was on the lathe.
I must confess that I had real problems with the inside of the bowl and the only thing I am really happy with is the indentation in the bottom where I took off the tenon. I could not angle the bowl gouge to undercut the sides and the bottom (mainly because the rest I have is too short). I ended up using a scraper to do most of the inside, and it left some undulations on the inside.
Both bowls are finished with a coat of Chestnut Shellac Sanding Sealer and a couple of coats of clear Briwax.