I can't stop trying to make bowls

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esears

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
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56
Location
Redstone Arsenal, AL
I'm really enjoying the bowl aspect of turning. I've had a few blowouts on some nice blanks so I needed to take a break. Was interesting to try to keep the lines of the bowl flowing from the bottom to the top. I need to figure out a way to get the top half of the bowl to flow straight down into the bottom as opposed to the little flare-out that is there right now. This is cherry with a walnut center. I made it for a co-worker who brought me in a pretty good sized piece of cherry yesterday. I was able to cut almost 10 blanks out of it so I was pretty happy. This sort of stuff is really making me wish I had a larger lathe than my Turncrafter Pro VS

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I have made 4 this summer already and learned one thing - My DC is NOT big enough and my little shop is too small for the shavings!.

I did enjoy it though and will make a few more. In the mean time I have to catch up on some pens - after cleaning up from the last bowl.

That is a nice looking bowl! I like the design.
 
Looking good Eric. The bowls can be pretty addicting :biggrin:

A book I would highly recommend is The Art of Turned Bowls by Richard Raffan. It is a great resource for the shape and form of a bowl. He doesn't cover the "how to" of turning a bowl in the book, just deals with what makes a bowl look and feel good. I noticed a huge improvement in my bowls after reading the book and I constantly refer to it.
 
Bowls are a lot of fun, also quite a bit of frustration, every body says a Skew is a difficult chisel to learn to use a Bowl Gouge is a lot harder, I like the part where your turning the sides and think I can get this just a little thinner, I guess everyone knows what happens next.
 
bitshird said:
Bowls are a lot of fun, also quite a bit of frustration, every body says a Skew is a difficult chisel to learn to use a Bowl Gouge is a lot harder, I like the part where your turning the sides and think I can get this just a little thinner, I guess everyone knows what happens next.
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When I wanted to start turning bowls I took a class. I was very happy that I did as I very quickly found out that using a bowl gouge is much different than the tools you use for spindle work. I certainly haven't mastered it but the class made learning the basics a much better expereince. I think I would have gone about it all wrong if I did it on my own.
 
bitshird said:
Bowls are a lot of fun, also quite a bit of frustration, every body says a Skew is a difficult chisel to learn to use a Bowl Gouge is a lot harder, I like the part where your turning the sides and think I can get this just a little thinner, I guess everyone knows what happens next.
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Hey Ken,
The bowl gouge ain't hard... just takes practice, practice and if you have time, some practice... I have the most problem gauging how thin the bottom is... I've made a number of very fancy funnels....:frown::frown::biggrin::biggrin:
 
TellicoTurning said:
Eric, That's a GREAT design... would you mind if I tried to copy it... can't say I can, but sure intend to try soon...
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Everything is free on the Internet! Or at least thats how I see it. I saw something like at in a magazine and wanted to see if I could do it. For being my first winged bowl, I was pretty happy with it. I've pretty much self-taught myself so far, but I'm taking a class the first week of August. I figure the guy who is teaching it has 40 years experience and can probably teach me a thing or to.
 
TellicoTurning said:
Hey Ken,
The bowl gouge ain't hard... just takes practice, practice and if you have time, some practice... I have the most problem gauging how thin the bottom is... I've made a number of very fancy funnels....:frown::frown::biggrin::biggrin:
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Chuck, I had fair luck with my woodchuck then I watched some guys at the spring TACA show in Nashville, I used a bowl gougeup there for about 15 minutes, came home and bought a Jimmy Clewes model from Doug Thompson.
So far I've only managed to get one bowl semi turned, I'm waiting for it to dry before I finish it, I've blown up a few, but they have all been dry wood, the one I have drying should be ready to go in a week or so. Next project is figuring out how to sharpen this bad boy, I'm about half through making a wolverine style jig but I'll have to buy the varigrind attachment, the gouge is going to get one heck of a workout , the next project is a natural edge Osage Orange bowl and the wood was cut several years ago, I guess I'll find out just how good the tool is!! I'll most likely rough out the bowl with my woodchuck, then refine it with my bowl gouge.
 
I use a bowl gouge, but I also us Ken's Woodchuck and it really make a difference, especially in the roughing aspects. I also use it to refine the shape and if I take small cuts and I am patient there is very little sanding to do.
 
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