Wide Rim Ash Bowl - after 6 months away from the lathe

[wizer]

Started this on Saturday and finished it today. Felt good to be back at the lathe for the first time since the back op. Obviously the time it took me reflects the fact that they didn't fix me But hopefully I'll at least continue to get back to where I was 8months ago. I was happy to find that I hadn't lost too many 'skills'.

The diameter is just over 12" and sits about 6" tall. It was turned from a lovely piece of Ash which I picked up from a forum member down in Kent last summer. He'd felled the tree from his garden and I took about four smallish logs. Seeing how nice it is, I wish I'd taken more (tho my Smart car doesn't ). It's got some beautiful red streaks in it. In fact most of the shavings where this pinky red colour.

I had chainsawed the log in half last year and painted the bare wood with PVA. But this piece had been left in my workshop since mid Jan and I expected it to be dry as a bone by now. However, you can probably see from the pic that it's moved on me. Not exactly in an artistic way either.

I'm not particularly impressed with the form of the bowl part. It's hard to see in the pic, but it's a little clunky. The bead on the rim was turned with the Ashley Iles beading tool that my wife bought me for xmas. I like it very much but not entirely sure I'm using it right. Bevel up or down? Up, seemed to be easier and safer. Needs more practise to learn how to use it to it's best potential.

Anyway, critique always welcome.

 

[cornucopia]

very nice Tom and the wide rim shows off that nice bit of figureing very well (looks kinda like some crotch figure??)

 

[miles_hot]

Love the figure and the impact of the wide rim and the bead nicely defines the rim / bowl transition. The bowl bit is less successful and I'm not sure why... maybe if you show us the actual profile which is hidden in the shadows it will become easier to say what it is. One odd thing is that the second shot confuses the eye a little as it looks like the bowl comes through the rim a little (as in those bowls which have the rim a little way down the side of the bowl) but in the "wrong" place (as it has to as it is the bead which is doing the tricking)..

I'd be very pleased if I could turn a rim that thin and even especially as it was on the move! Good job for 1st time back in the saddle for a bit

Miles

 

[wizer]

Thanks George. I can't honestly remember if it was a crotch piece, now I think about it, it could have been. The other half will be in my log store, I'll have to dig it out. I'd like to do the whole thing again actually and see if I can improve on a couple of points.

Miles, I'll try to take a better pic of it. As I said, the outside of the bowl was not a success. The bead is slightly proud of the rim, I was kind of winging the bead part, it was an 'on the spot' decision to do it and I'd not used the tool prior to that. I think it probably looks odd because the rim has warped slightly. I think next time I'd try doing beads the full width of the rim. Might take a bit of practise to get them spaced right tho!

 

[Doug B]

That is a lovely piece of wood Tom, & a really good effort.

I`ve got a beading tool, but have had mixed results with it, often chuncks of bead fly off at the last minute


What have you finished it with?


Cheers.


Doug.

 

[wizer]

Thanks Doug. I used a thin coat of Chestnut Shellac Sanding Sealer and then two coats of Chestnut Acrylic Lacquer.

The Ashley Iles beading tool has a bevel on it. Instinct told me to use it like a gouge with the bevel rubbing. But that seemed to be a sensational mistake. Bevel down is effectively scraping, but works well.

 

[richburrow]

Nice bowl Tom
I am glad you are turning again, here come the shavings
Rich

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Tom

Nice one. Glad your back to it.

 

[Paul.J]

Great looking bowl Tom and a lovely piece of wood

 

[johnny.t.]

Good to see you've managed to get on the lathe Tom.It looks like the break has affected you though..... :shock: I can see a fault in the wood .......:shock: it'll be holes next!! :lol: :lol:

Nice looking piece of Ash crotch. I really liked it from the top view,thinking you had made a nice heavy bowl to show off that figuring on the rim. Then I looked at the side view and TBH I aren't very keen on it.The bowl and rim don't go together for me,I think if you are going to have a flat rim with a bead on the top,the bead needs to line up with the outside of the bowl curve to appear as if the bowl comes through the rim,this obviously means the bowl and bead need to be the same thickness. How you have it,the side view looks almost like a wide rimmed bowl sitting in another bowl.
Ash if it is not completely dry loves to warp and crotch pieces are worse,I had a couple of nice crotch piece platters that warped themselves into fire wood

Still its great that you're feeling up to working on your lathe,look forward to seeing some more of your stuff on here

JT

 

[CHJ]

Good to see you back on the machine Tom, think you were being rather optimistic that the piece would be dry after that short a time.

Held of commenting because didn't know if you were up to critique on your first item back on the slope but seeing as Johnny has seen the same points I noticed the bead/bowl outer misalignment. Shame about the rim moving but that's just down to lady luck, thickness achieved is commendable.

 

[loz]

Hi Wizer,

Doesn't look bad to me seeing as you are so long off the lathe. ! Every cut is practice, and you soon be back to posting some lovely pieces of work.

 

[wizer]

Thanks guys. Honest critique never offends me. Encourages me, more like. Lesson learned on the 'wetness' of the log. I'm still learning in that respect. In a way I'm glad it was a bit wet still as it was more pleasurable to turn.

JT, until you mentioned it I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was wrong with the bowl form. It looked 'clunky' to me but that didn't seem properly explain the problem.

You can quite clearly see from this pic that the outer curve of the bowl finishes much wider than the bead in the top.

I'm tempted to re-mount it with the bowl reversing jaws and re-cut the top of the outer bowl. It's very chunky in that area but very thin at the base. I just wonder if it will be 'safe' on the bowl reversing jaws. Or whether I should just chalk this one up to experience?

 

[cornucopia]

defo chalk it to experince Tom- i've had so many now i've started to buy my chalk in bulk :!:

 

[CHJ]

Don't try to touch it Tom, that rim's too thin to hold that firm enough.

The only way I would tackle it would be to turn a jamb chuck for the bowl inner and use the tailstock but the chances are you would have blending problems when approaching the flexed rim.

 

[wizer]

Ah Well, shame to see a good piece of wood wasted, I'll stick it on the shelf and see if I can come up with something creative to do with it in the future.

I'm tempted to try again with the other half of the log. But the Wife has commissioned a very chunky bowl with a multi beaded rim for my next adventure. Will have to wait for a bit tho as my grinder departed the workshop earlier and the ProEdge won't be here for at last a week. Hard life. Oh and I've got to make a pen before the end of next week

 

[Steve Blackdog]

This is making me feel I need to get on the lathe again. I'd be pretty pleased with that, Tom, first time back for six months.