Bradford Pear Bowl
- Thread starter holmqer
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Rifleman1776
Member
Nice bowl and nice finish. The color is more yellow than Bradford pear I have seen. How did it turn? I recently turned a rolling pin from well seasoned Bradford and it was nearly rock hard.
Gary Max
Member
Frank it may be the finish he used ---giving it that golden look???
Ligget
Member
Nice shape to the bowl, great turning
]
]R2
Member
Very nicely done!
rhahnfl
Member
I've got some bradford pear drying. From recent trimming. Is it better to turn it now and then re-turn it again later when dry?
Rough turning a bowl while green is very easy, and from my experience and other comments, Bradford Pear is hard as rock once seasoned. So in once sense it is easier to rough turn it green then finish turn it once fully dry.
On the other hand, when you rough turn green, the wood is going to dry much faster and is at MUCH greater risk of checking. So you need to employ various techniques to prevent that.
Some common techniques include
1) Put the bowl in a brown paper bag or cardboard box buried in the moist shavings that came off of it. [I do this]
2) Resealing the end grain with Anchorseal (both inside and out, about 1/3 of the surface area of the bowl) [I do this]
3) Soak the bowl in PEG (Polyethelyne Glycol) [Never tried it myself]
4) Soak the bowl in liquid dish wash solution for a few days (sink stuff not machine) [Never tried it myself]
Another thing to keep in mind is that the wood will move as it dries so you need to rough turn it thick with that in mind. One common rule of thumb is the bowl thickness should be at least 10% of the diameter but no more that 1".
If you turn a tenon on the bottom, it will be out of round once it is dry, so you need a method of accomodating that. I remount the bowl by the rim in Cole Jaws, then take a parting tool to the tenon to fix it. As the rim is also out of round this is a tricky mount and I just touch the tenon.
After chucking the bowl in the tenon, I procede to finish turn everthing I can reach with my bowl gouge and scraper. I finally remount the now nice and round rim back in the Cole Jaws and finish turn the foot.
As you can see the green turning thing is more complex, but it does let you do the rough shaping very easily. I can rough out the basic shape in 10 or 15 minutes because the wood cuts so easily. Then the finish turning takes some time.
On the other hand, when you rough turn green, the wood is going to dry much faster and is at MUCH greater risk of checking. So you need to employ various techniques to prevent that.
Some common techniques include
1) Put the bowl in a brown paper bag or cardboard box buried in the moist shavings that came off of it. [I do this]
2) Resealing the end grain with Anchorseal (both inside and out, about 1/3 of the surface area of the bowl) [I do this]
3) Soak the bowl in PEG (Polyethelyne Glycol) [Never tried it myself]
4) Soak the bowl in liquid dish wash solution for a few days (sink stuff not machine) [Never tried it myself]
Another thing to keep in mind is that the wood will move as it dries so you need to rough turn it thick with that in mind. One common rule of thumb is the bowl thickness should be at least 10% of the diameter but no more that 1".
If you turn a tenon on the bottom, it will be out of round once it is dry, so you need a method of accomodating that. I remount the bowl by the rim in Cole Jaws, then take a parting tool to the tenon to fix it. As the rim is also out of round this is a tricky mount and I just touch the tenon.
After chucking the bowl in the tenon, I procede to finish turn everthing I can reach with my bowl gouge and scraper. I finally remount the now nice and round rim back in the Cole Jaws and finish turn the foot.
As you can see the green turning thing is more complex, but it does let you do the rough shaping very easily. I can rough out the basic shape in 10 or 15 minutes because the wood cuts so easily. Then the finish turning takes some time.
Rifleman1776
Member
That is the standard way with bowls. And, as we both said, dry is very-very hard.
NavyDiver
Member
Nice shape.
rhahnfl
Member
I've got several chunks from my trimmings. I'll give it a try. Thanks!!
louisbry
Member
Nice turning and finish. I turn green wood bowls pretty much the way you described.
jwoodwright
Member
That is beautiful wood!