First bowl

[rdavidp]

I have started making my first bowl. During my last trip to Woodcraft, I bought a whole bunch of turning wood. Most out of the cut off bin, but I did buy two bowl blanks that were in the $5.00 bin. Just a mix of different woods, most about 5 inches on all sides, and pretty much not marked. Got an interesting surprise in one of the bowl blanks. As I was cutting the corners off on the bandsaw, I noticed a fairly pleasant scent, sort of minty, but a little "hotter". I took a sniff of the wood, and turns out it is euclyptus.

I glued up some pieces of scrap pine I had to make a block to screw the faceplate to and glue the blank on to.


Pretty close to final outside shape. Not sure if I am really going to work the outside much anyways. I kept having problems with my gouge slipping and really scaring the surface. I will also be parting the bowl off the rest of the blank where the bottom of the cove is, instead of seperating the whole blank from the screw block. Why? Just because.


Lots of dust and chips were produced, but the shop smells real nice.


I am hollowing out the bowl using a roundnose scraper. Face grain is alot easier to hollow than end grain, atleast I find that to be true. This is where I stopped at last night. Well continue this evening if I have a chance.

[Mike907]

It looks like you have the Standard Set of Shopsmith chisels. You might want to invest in a good bowl gouge. It should help with the tearout and produce a nicer finish, inside and out. It looks like Shopsmith discontinued their bowl set, but there are any number of others out there.

Mike

[terrydowning]

You're of to a good start. Round nose chisel is the right tool to use for hogging out the bowl in your current arsenal. Mike is correct though. If you wish to continue turning bowls, a decent bowl gouge should be on your list of tools to purchase.

I recommend cleaning up the waste block. It can be used again again until you run into the screws.

Sharpen often dust is a sign of a scraper that is not sharp enough. Even though you are using a scraper, you should still have shavings rather than dust.

When it comes time to part off. DO NOT part completely with the parting tool. Get it close and try to make the bottom pf the bowl slightly concave.

Finish the parting with a fine tooth saw with the lathe off and then clean up the stump left on the foot with a chisel.

Looking Good.

[rdavidp]

For most of my sharpening I use the Shopsmith sanding disk and sharpening jig. It works fine for the skews, spindle gouges, and parting tools. I completely messed up one of my round nose scrapers, actually the Shopsmith brand scraper. I have a set of Shopsmith chisels and a set of several old Buck Brothers lathe chisels. I usually can sharpen the round nose free hand. No matter how I try to position the round nose on the sharpening jig, it always seems to be at an angle that will ruin the edge. I have even watched some video that have been recommended by others here of "Papa Doug" using the sharpening jig. I have an 1/8th inch bowl gouge but it is almost impossible to sharpen even free hand. I am planning to pick up atleast a 1/4 or a 1/2 inch bowl gouge this weekend at Woodcraft.

For any parting I always get close but then use my Gent's Crosscut saw to finish off.

What do you recommend using to finish the eucalyptus bowl? I basically have Bullseye clear shellac, Minwax paste wax, tung oil, and brush on lacquer.

I like working with eucalyptus. It smells nice, and I always breathe clearer afterwards.

[terrydowning]

Finish is turner's choice.

Whatever you like best. I use a product called Wood Turner's Finish from General finishes available at wood craft. It's essentially their floor finish with a slight reformulation to work for wood turning and applying while the l;the is turning. I like it Be advised it is water based and will cause the grain to raise with the first application.

Apply, let the grain raise, sand down and then apply a couple more coats.

nice hard finish.

For a bowl gouge I have the wood river 3/8" from wood craft. I can't imagine using a 1/2" bowl gouge that is a lot of chisel for a mid size lathe like the SS.

[rdavidp]

I think I am pretty set for spindle turning chisels. I have a 1", 3/8", what looks to be just a size smaller than 3/8" spindle gouges. A couple of different sized round nose scrapers, two or three different sized skew chisels I have yet to use. A bedan? Also a couple of parting tools given to me. I did buy a nice thin edge parting tool from Sorby. Probably the only Sorby I can afford, though I do prefer the longer handles of the Woodriver tools. The chisels given to me are a mixture of Shopsmith and old Buck Brothers when they made decent tools. I am going to get the Wood River 3/8 bowl gouge and probably their 1/4" too. I already have the 1/8" bowl gouge. I also want to get a smaller spindle gouge like 1/4". Then I should be set.

I have seen D shaped bowl scrapers. Any advantage to them versus a round nose or bowl gouge?

[terrydowning]

I have not used the inner and outer D shaped scrapers so can't speak to them.
I personally prefer shearing tools over scraping tools. It's just a preference and does not mean anything. I find it easier to sharpen the shearing tools. Maintaining that burr on the scrapers is troublesome for me. My collection of tools is similar to yours. An old SS set, an old set of unknown manufacture very similar in make up to the SS set, an old Craftsman chrome vanadium set, and a set of the SS mini turning tools(don't waste your money on miniature sets IMHO). I also have a single 3/8" wood river bowl gouge the SS set and the other older set are carbon tool steel rather than HSS. One of these days I'll upgrade the skews and spindle gouges to HSS for better edge retention, but not in the foreseeable future. Sharpening really doesn't bother me too much.