making a blank

[tony-j]

hi help needed. i am a complete novice got my lathe just before christmas, turned a few basic things, bread board , light pull , kitchen rolll holder, tried different bits of wood i had lying around with mixed results. i have some new offcuts of block oak worktop about 60mm thick, not the cheap B & Q stuff, told its about £300 for 3 meters. Thought i might cut a few into circles stick them together to make a bowl blank.
what glue should i use and will it work. Also havent got a chuck yet only backplate, tailstock center and headstock spur center but think i can improvise. thanks for your help Tony.

 

[speeder1987]

Is it just bowl blanks that you want? I've never laminated blanks together before to make a bowl blank but would have thought it would be possible. There is a type of glue that is recommended for laminating pen blanks though its name eludes me A couple of other thoughts though ....

1. By gluing disks of wood together the grain pattern won't be continuous which I don't think would look right

2. Over time if the wood moves the glue lines may become more visible (someone more experienced will be able to confirm if this is true)

3. I would have thought it would be far easier/time efficient to just buy some dedicated bowl blanks from someone like styles and bates

Spindle blanks would be far easier to make by just ripping the wood into 60x60 blanks

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Tony,
If you can plane the surfaces sufficiently flat then for side-grain to side-grain butt joints almost any decent PVA wood glue will do the job.

Having said that though, to be honest I'd forget trying to turn bowls from scratch using jointed dry timber - unless you're going out-and-out into segmented work. I'd save your oak for smaller items.

Try and get in touch with a tree surgeon in your area and get yourself some green logs (oak too if you like) you can process from scratch yourself. You may have to pay in liquid form for them but the joys of roughing out green wood shouldn't be missed. Split them in two down the pith and rough out blanks to the final rough shape you want from the halfs. Rough the bowls to about 10% thickness, coat the outside in PVA or gloss paint or proprietary end-seal like Chestnut's and leave for several months (6 -12) until dry enough to finish turn.

It's far more fun and the end-product will look better IMHO. The fact that you went from log to bowl is also more satisfying.

HTH
Jon

 

[stevenw1963]

Or you can get a bag of blanks off ebay from some like homeofwood - I've found them to be good value & all ready to turn.

 

[CHJ]

Truing up of the joining faces can be done on the lathe, A larger diameter version of this method Or As seen here in the box body

As for Glue, PVA will work but expect to get a slight indication of joint movement after time as PVA can creep with wood flexing.

Cascamite will not creep but it's an expensive route if you are not using it regularly due to limited shelf life if exposed to air moisture.

 

[woodyturner]

If you do use PVA glue make sure it is the water proof type or when it is washed the glue will become active again and your rolling pin will start to fall apart titebond do a good one

 

[Sportique]

Hi Tony,
If you can plane the surfaces sufficiently flat then for side-grain to side-grain butt joints almost any decent PVA wood glue will do the job.

Having said that though, to be honest I'd forget trying to turn bowls from scratch using jointed dry timber - unless you're going out-and-out into segmented work. I'd save your oak for smaller items.

Try and get in touch with a tree surgeon in your area and get yourself some green logs (oak too if you like) you can process from scratch yourself. You may have to pay in liquid form for them but the joys of roughing out green wood shouldn't be missed. Split them in two down the pith and rough out blanks to the final rough shape you want from the halfs. Rough the bowls to about 10% thickness, coat the outside in PVA or gloss paint or proprietary end-seal like Chestnut's and leave for several months (6 -12) until dry enough to finish turn.

It's far more fun and the end-product will look better IMHO. The fact that you went from log to bowl is also more satisfying.

HTH
Jon

Jon - do you mean that you then leave the inside exposed to the elements? or should that also be coated with PVA or gloss paint?

TIA

Dave

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Dave,
I usually only coat the outside of the bowl and leave the inside bare to allow the timber to dry out from that surface. This is the method described by Bert Marsh in his book.

You can also use Chestnut end-seal but because it's very watery it can be tricky to get the stuff to stick on curved surfaces - PVA tends to be more viscous which makes teh job easier.

On some bowls I've just coated the outside on the end-grain and that seems to be ok.
Jon

 

[Sportique]

Jon Thanks for the clarification

(I've clicked on your "thankyou" icon!)

Dave