How to attach bowls?

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Rcd567

Rcd567

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Sep 22, 2007
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Location
Glenwood, Iowa, USA.
A zillion years ago in shop class (do they even offer that any more?) in high school, I made a bowl on the school's lathe. Actually I made several. We would use small screws on the turning plate and mount it on a piece of scrap or plywood. We'd glue a few pieces of paper to the scrap, then glue it all to the piece to be turned. Once finished, a chisel and a sharp wrap on the seam seperated the scrap and the bowl. A little sanding or a lot of sanding and there you go.

Is it still done that way today? Whats the preferred method?

Thanks for your time.
 
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There are several methods and the one you mentioned is one. Another would be to turn a tenon on the bottom of the bowl and attach it to the chuck. You could use the faceplate with screws directly into the wood and use that as the open part of the bowl, turning the bottom first. You would need to make either a tenon or a recess on the bottom to be able to turn the bowl around and hold it by the chuck.

I'm sure there are other methods as well.
 
Tenons are nice because you dont have holes in the bottom of your bowl from the screws like you would a faceplate or screw chuck. Tenons can be part of the bowl or are easy to part off with the right tools.
 
I've used a slight variation to your method. I don't use any paper but glue the srcap wood directly to the bottom of the bowl then use a parting tool to sperate them. For scrap wood i always used pieces of 2X4. Screw the faceplate to it and turn it round to the size of the faceplate. This way there is less work for the parting tool. Then glue it to the bottom of the bowl and start turning after the glue has done its job..

I just got a chuck for Christmas so now am am turning a tenon on the bottom and using the chuck.
 
God, I hate being such a newb, but what is a tenon? PS...I've got a chuck coming from woodcrafters. It's the one on sale for $84. Probably not the best (duh), but should be good for starters.
 
Bob,lets see if this helps,if you have any bushings that are bigger on one side than on the other then the smaller side is what they call a tenon,when you get your chuck figure out how small you have to your bowl blank on one end to fit into the jaws of your chuck,hope this helps.
 
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