How do I cut this?

[gus3049]

Hi All,

This is a bit of green pear. Its 170cm across the narrow bit!

How do I cut this to get the best out of it? The deepest bowl would be straight down the grain but would include the pith and waste a lot at the sides. Cut down the middle would give two small bowls.

Advice please. :?:

 

[wabbitpoo]

What can your lathe handle?!

 

[gus3049]

What can your lathe handle?!

Now that is a good question!!

Its only a cheap and nasty Clarke with half a horse pushing it round but..... I have manage a couple of 12" oak bowls on it cutting very carefully. It has also managed some pretty out of balance stuff without leaping out of the workshop.

What do you have in mind? I usually get it down to rough shape on the bandsaw and hand planer before mounting anyway. I don't trust the lathe that much.

 

[Exbomz]

If it were me, and speaking conservatively, I would cut down the piece, thorugh longest width to give 2 crotch pieces, for bowls but depends what your after.

 

[gus3049]

If it were me, and speaking conservatively, I would cut down the piece, thorugh longest width to give 2 crotch pieces, for bowls but depends what your after.

Ah well there lies the rub!

I really don't have the experience yet to know how the bowls will turn out. I am being led entirely by what the wood looks like when it gets onto the lathe. This piece presents a problem because I can't see the finished result and it looks too 'interesting' just to take a stab at. Thus the request.

What would the crotch pieces look like?

 

[Paul.J]

This is a crotch piece Gus i made some time ago,cut through the middle,but as said above your lathe will have to deal with an out of balance lump of wood to start with where you will need a fairly slow speed.

 

[SVB]

Hi All,

This is a bit of green pear. Its 170cm across the narrow bit!

Do you mean 170 cm - that's about 5 foot!!!!! :shock:

More seriously, one option could be straight down the middle and turn a bowl into the inner surface and wire brush the bark off. However, this will require quite a strong / heavy lathe so may not be an option.

If not, straight down the middle would still be my option and they rough to round off the lathe before turning.

One thing to keep in mind is that fruit wood is a bugg*r for spliting when drying so if not turning wet to thin wall, leave a bit extra, loads of effort for even wall and apply end seal etc to give yourself the best chance.

Oh, and don't forget some WIP photos please!

Simon

 

[gus3049]

Hi All,

This is a bit of green pear. Its 170cm across the narrow bit!

Do you mean 170 cm - that's about 5 foot!!!!! :shock:

More seriously, one option could be straight down the middle and turn a bowl into the inner surface and wire brush the bark off. However, this will require quite a strong / heavy lathe so may not be an option.

If not, straight down the middle would still be my option and they rough to round off the lathe before turning.

One thing to keep in mind is that fruit wood is a bugg*r for spliting when drying so if not turning wet to thin wall, leave a bit extra, loads of effort for even wall and apply end seal etc to give yourself the best chance.

Oh, and don't forget some WIP photos please!

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the comment. Hey, I've got a Clarke lathe - it'll handle anything I say it will - up to about 2" in diameter anyway. Perhaps I should stick to inches, I keep getting my cm's and mm's mixed up.

Sorry to be thick but split it which way? Longways for two very shallow bowls or across the short width for two not so shallow bowls? Wouldn't this still mean turning across the grain on both when hollowing out? Does this matter? If I'm going to do that, why not just make one big bowl out of it as it is?

I like the crotch bowls that PaulJ has posted but I'm not sure about that at this stage. I am but an egg (in case you read Heinlein)

I am still learning the control of the tools to get what I want out a piece rather than what the resulting mistakes turn it into.

 

[Dalboy]

Why not seal it and practice your tool control first and once you are happy then turn/cut it. This will also give you chance to look around at others work.

Hope this helps

 

[Bodrighy]

If you have the flat section as the bottom and turn down into the crotch you can get a heart shape like this


Just in time for St Valentines day LOL

Pete

 

[gus3049]

If you have the flat section as the bottom and turn down into the crotch you can get a heart shape like this


Just in time for St Valentines day LOL

Pete

Hi Pete,

I love that idea but I don't think the wood is high enough at the sides to make the most of it. My fault I guess as I cut all the rest of the log off in order to get the biggest bowls out that I could .

It looks as though I might just have to go straight down the middle after all. But I do have a nice Robinia we just cut down that has a suitable looking crotch so I will definitely give that a go. Its the year of living dangerously I suspect.

Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Melinda_dd]

These pictures amaze me... as a beginner... how the hell is that done lol!!

 

[SVB]

Hi - I was suggesting cutting in the plane such as to end up with a profile similar to that pictured in Paul J 's reply.

I realise this will almost certainly be too much for the lathe to handle but you can seal & keep one half and save it for the next lathe or a mate with a bigger lathe. The other half you could round on the bandsaw and turn. If you are lucky (and nature has no warranty!) you may get some amazing grain that will look great on a traditional round bowl (potential for this month's turning challenge if you are taking part!).

BRgds
Simon

 

[Bodrighy]

Get a piece of wood that isn't round, like the one shown and draw a straight line around it with some chalk and you'll see that the edge will go up and down with the shape of the log. Getting the shape is just a case of cutting what is basically a normal bowl, obviously it is a little more difficult simply because you are cutting air at times but it isn't as difficult as you think Melinda. It's good fun as you never really know what you are likely to get out of it until it's finished. Sometimes really good, sometimes plain freaky. :lol: