My first bowl

[warreng8170]

Well, I was a little burnt out on pens and stoppers since making quite a few for Christmas sales, but I still wanted to spend some time in the shop this weekend. I decided it was time to try something different. This is my first attempt at a bowl, and I have to say I am fairly pleased considering I have had absolutely no instruction whatsoever. The outside was mostly painless, but hollowing out the bowl was a different story. I actually had more trouble doing the finishing cuts on the inside with the scraper. I kept getting catches no matter how lightly I tried to cut. Obviously there is a technique I just haven't figured out yet. I guess it's time to get hooked up with my local turning club.

Anyway, here it is. Honduran Rosewood that I picked up at my local woodcraft for a couple bucks. Approx. 4 in. diameter by approx. 3 in tall.

 

[MarkHix]

Excellent Job!
The first bowl is kind of like the first pen....hang onto it for inspiration!

 

[jimm1]

GOOD LOOKING

 

[markgum]

looks good. Keep up the work.

 

[Fred]

Warren ... That is a great 1st bowl. Be sure to keep it.

I like to see the effort folks put in cleaning the bottom and thus making others wonder how the heck you turned it. VERY nice work on this bowl's bottom.

Now for the obvious question ... tell others here how did you hold it? I have my methods so I don't need your trade secret(s).

As for the problems with the scraper ... depending on just where in the bowl the catches happened will help come up with answers. IF the catches are in the area where the wall meets the bottom, I would say that you trapped the edge of the scraper ... thus the catch. Other areas and I think you had the wrong angle on the cutting edge of the scraper to the wood.

Just my 0.02 cents worth which along with an additional $1.98 and you too can get a cup of coffee at the local watering hole. :coffee:

 

[warreng8170]

Thanks Fred. I turned the outside with the blank mounted on a wormscrew in my chuck. Then I turned a tenon on the bottom to clamp with the chuck so that I could hollow it out. Once that was done I carefully added two layers of masking tape to the inside rim to protect the surface and I LIGHTLY spread the jaws of my chuck out against the masking tape. Just enough pressure to keep the bowl from spinning agains the jaws. I finished off the bottom using light cuts with the bowl gouge to take off the tenon and then cleaned up with the scraper.

 

[razor524]

Real nice job, especially being a first!

 

[JimB]

Excellent first bowl. I always find changing what I make is best. Doing all pens or all of anything gets too routine and I like to chnage up the pace. I find doing bowls is a great change for me.

 

[Padre]

Really, really nice.

 

[kludge77]

Like it!

 

[bitshird]

Warren for your first try, that's a heck of a good start, very nice chunk of lumber also..

 

[bricketts528]

The wood grain is beautiful! Great job for your fist time! I'm going to do the same thing soon...pens do get stale after a busy season!