My First Attempt at Bowl Making

[2centsworth]

I removed all my bowls from their bags that I have turned up until October 1st and have stored them in my reorganized shelves ready for sanding and polishing.

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As expected, some are out of round, others have cracks due to the fact that I didn't remove the pith completely, and others are crack free and fairly round. Some CA glue and fiberglass filler will fix up those with cracks and give them character

Fred not of of round but built with TLC ! I am so proud of the job you have done so far. They are PRICELESS ! So I do have one question how many things do you have plugged in at the same time? Couldn't help but notice all the chords in one outlet ? I just had the electrician put in a new 4 plug outlet on the main wall in the garage. As usual my garage had only one outlet for the whole garage.

[fredsheldon]

Fred not of of round but built with TLC ! I am so proud of the job you have done so far. They are PRICELESS ! So I do have one question how many things do you have plugged in at the same time? Couldn't help but notice all the chords in one outlet ? I just had the electrician put in a new 4 plug outlet on the main wall in the garage. As usual my garage had only one outlet for the whole garage.

Jerry,

That one outlet powers my shop light, floor fan and dust collector only. There are four more 110 outlets on a side wall as well as a 220 outlet which drive my PP 520, my 10ER lathe, my lawn sprinkler control box as well as another set of shop lights. My air conditioner is powered by a separate circuit. I had the additional outlets installed when I had the AC installed.
Originally I kept throwing the 15 amp breaker when using the non-Power Pro 520 and SS dust collector at the same time on the original garage outlets..

Just finished sanding 32 of my bowls that I had removed from bags, some of which I filled their cracks with fiberglass resin earlier today. I will start adding sanding sealer tomorrow then polish them up. I used my PP 520 for the sanding operation so I could change the speed up and down quickly according to how out of round the bowls were as well as reverse direction while sanding.

[skou]

Just finished sanding 32 of my bowls that I had removed from bags, some of which I filled their cracks with fiberglass resin earlier today. I will start adding sanding sealer tomorrow then polish them up. I used my PP 520 for the sanding operation so I could change the speed up and down quickly according to how out of round the bowls were as well as reverse direction while sanding.

Fred, pictures?

Please?

Your work looks amazing, but I (and everyone else) want to see what progress looks like.

steve

[fredsheldon]

Fred, pictures?

Please?

Your work looks amazing, but I (and everyone else) want to see what progress looks like.

steve

Steve,

Good idea. I have 11 more bowls in bags that need processing in a few weeks so I will post pictures of the steps I take to repair cracks with fiberglass resin, retard cracking with CA glue and final sanding. I have previously posted in this thread the steps I perform to apply sanding sealer and polish. But at the risk of repeating myself I will document those steps again since you have shown an interest. Here is where I discuss using fiberglass filler in the cracks. http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=76

Fred

[skou]

Fred, don't resend old pics, just the new stuff.

If we can't find your old sends, we need to retire.

I'm just amazed what your 65 year old machine can do, even if you are using that n00b to finish your work. Oh, your work is spurring me on. Keep it up. (One day, I'll get my 6 foot ER spindle lathe running.)

steve

[fredsheldon]

Before and after photos of first bowls to be polished from my second batch of over 50 bowls. To see how I applied the finish go back to post 99 in this thread.
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=99

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After sanding with from 60 grit to 400 grit

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Need to remove tenon and brand the bottom with my name.

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Second bowl from tonight. I like the way the center holder worked out. This will be a chip bowl with a small dip bowl placed in the center. I have 8 more just like this one still in the bags.

[fredsheldon]

Well this has been a busy day, I sanded, sealed with sanding sealer and polished all my bowls from the second batch. All I need to do now is to remove the tenon and brand my name to the bottom of each bowl and I will be ready for Christmas.
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Fifty two bowls in this second batch added to my 38 bowls from my first batch gives me 90 bowls total for the year, more than enough to give one to everybody I know for Christmas and have a few left over.

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Thank goodness for Fiberglass filler and CA glue.

[neal560sl]

Fred,

You sure must have been busy. Is that all you used on them is sanding sealer or do you put something else on after? They sure have a nice shine.

I have been making some very simple Christmas tree ornaments and put sanding sealer on and just buffed with a cotton cloth on the lathe before cutting them off, but am looking for something else to give a little better shine, but simple to apply of coarse.

[fredsheldon]

Fred,

You sure must have been busy. Is that all you used on them is sanding sealer or do you put something else on after? They sure have a nice shine.

I have been making some very simple Christmas tree ornaments and put sanding sealer on and just buffed with a cotton cloth on the lathe before cutting them off, but am looking for something else to give a little better shine, but simple to apply of coarse.

Neal,

Here is a link to the page where I discuss this. On this batch I applied the sanding sealer to all 50 bowls at the same time off of the lathe, let them dry for an hour, then applied the polish with the bowl mounted on the lathe after a light sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper.

Fred
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=98
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=99

[fredsheldon]

The final steps to finishing my bowls are to cut off the tenon and sand the bottom flat so I can apply my brand.
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Cut the tenon down with scrapers.
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Cut the remainder off with sharp chisel.
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Sand nub off and flatten bottom to accept brand using the drum sander.
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Brand applied with branding iron. Bottom must be flat to accept the brand properly. Need to apply polish to bottom and then I will be finished with my Christmas gift giving project for this year. I have branded all 90 of my bowls today. It took about 2 hours because I had to sand an extra flat spot on every bowl. It takes about 30 minutes to heat up the branding iron so once you get going do all at the same time.