rwyoung
Member
Well, I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a bowl. Never made one, and only a few small things like pens and some bottle stoppers on the lathe so far.
Since this is an experiment and teaching project, I decided to laminate some 3/4" maple I already had to make a shallow bowl blank. If it works, I could have a candy dish for the coffee table.
No 4-jaw chuck so doin' it old-school with a face plate and waste block.
Did all right until about the 80% done mark. Then whamo, caught the gouge on the inside and the blank blew apart.
Is it a failed bowl? Yes. Is the project a failure, no because I got to practice new techniques and I learned a few things.
1) I learned it is cool to make things blow apart, no mater how you do it.
2) I learned a face shield and safety glasses are important (I was at the tail stock end of the lathe when it split, so out of the line of fire, but still glad I was wearing them).
3) I learned that the profile I thought I was cutting was not what I was cutting (one benefit to having things split, you can see the profile).
4) I learned the brown paper bag trick with a waste block does work.
5) Did I mention, it is cool when things blow apart?
I have several more to practice on so I'm sure I'll get one to work right. Tomorrow is another day. But today I made a mistake. :biggrin:
(No camera at home so just set the two larges pieces on edge on the flatbed scanner. Way to thin on the bottom, in fact I had also just cut all the way through to the brown paper bag.)
Since this is an experiment and teaching project, I decided to laminate some 3/4" maple I already had to make a shallow bowl blank. If it works, I could have a candy dish for the coffee table.
No 4-jaw chuck so doin' it old-school with a face plate and waste block.
Did all right until about the 80% done mark. Then whamo, caught the gouge on the inside and the blank blew apart.
Is it a failed bowl? Yes. Is the project a failure, no because I got to practice new techniques and I learned a few things.
1) I learned it is cool to make things blow apart, no mater how you do it.
2) I learned a face shield and safety glasses are important (I was at the tail stock end of the lathe when it split, so out of the line of fire, but still glad I was wearing them).
3) I learned that the profile I thought I was cutting was not what I was cutting (one benefit to having things split, you can see the profile).
4) I learned the brown paper bag trick with a waste block does work.
5) Did I mention, it is cool when things blow apart?
I have several more to practice on so I'm sure I'll get one to work right. Tomorrow is another day. But today I made a mistake. :biggrin:
(No camera at home so just set the two larges pieces on edge on the flatbed scanner. Way to thin on the bottom, in fact I had also just cut all the way through to the brown paper bag.)
