Came out nice.
I wrestled with what to finish it with. A normal food-type finish would get worn pretty quickly, so I opted for many very thin coats of a polyurethane wipe.
Well, I would need a coring tool. They don't work well on a small lathe and are expensive. (not enough torque)... No matter what you've got to be able to hold on to the piece. This is as large as I can go and would not be able to twice turn it with the size of the bottom the client wanted. So... this piece had to be turned all at one time with already dried wood.
And get a hold of it how?
I would glue on a pre-turned (round with a dovetail on the outer edge) to the bottom of the bowl to create a tenon. Rather than holding with a recess you grab the outside. Run the tailstock live centre, with a block of wood if it doesn't reach the bottom, as long as you can to turn the outside and the beginning of the inside. Pull the tailstock out of the way and completely the inside. Take it off and set aside for a bit. Now using the little faceplate that came with the lathe make a jam chuck with a piece of wood. A dry piece of 2x10 will do nicely. Turn the outside of it so the inside of bowl's rim presses tight on to it. Put the bowl on, bring the tailstock up and turn the bottom, removing the tenon. When there is just a stub of tenon left under the live centre remove it and turn the last bit off. It is an old method from before the days of chucks etc. Now if you have a vacuum pump for stabilising wood you can make a vacuum chuck and open up that option for holding.
That sounds well and good, and if I had experience doing that in the past. But I have a small lathe. No way of grabbing the open end of the bowl to turn/finish the bottom. Of course, without spending a lot of money on special equipment for a one-time piece. Or taking the time to do the jam chuck, and plate. Let alone hope I got the rings lined up without them sliding out of center when gluing. I do twice turn pieces. This was a one-time, unique piece for me to do. I'd rather take that money for gadgets or time to make them and put it towards a larger lathe. I did what I could with what I had. So be it that some wood got wasted on one project. I agreed to do this project for an old mentor in the faith. Normally, I would have turned it down. I appreciate your words of encouragement.
You are my man,lot of glue and lot of clamps!
Outside was all done with a 40/40 grind. The hogging out with the 40/40, but the bottom is a 62 bottom feeder.
