Lathe chuck for turning a bowl

hobbyist7 · Post by **hobbyist7** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:52 am

Thank you all for the excellent ideas! I think I have a good game plan now and will be able to experiment economically while encouraging his interest.

Happy turning!

Chris

Culprit · Post by **Culprit** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:29 am

What did you decide on?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:30 pm

Culprit wrote:What did you decide on?

hobbyist7

Yes Please do tell!;)

Also do tell us how it worked out both building hardware wise and building kid's interest wise.

hobbyist7 · Post by **hobbyist7** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:44 am

Will do. I plan to get the larger face plate and follow the gluing process described above, which I think is similar to the approach I used about 30 years ago.

In your experience, how round does the outside of the bowl need to be before turning it? Unfortunately, I don't have a band saw, so was thinking I'd start with a square and just begin cutting off corners with a circular saw until the angles were more and more obtuse. Any guidance on the number of sides I should aim for (e.g., 8-sided would probably be too rough...16-sided?)

Chris

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:44 am

4 or 8 sides should do ya okay. How BIG is the blank?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:48 pm

beeg wrote:4 or 8 sides should do ya okay. How BIG is the blank?

Compared to a 12' long 11" diameter tree trunk weighing 350 #, it should be a 'snap'.

Unless a very large blank, octagonal is a good place to start IMHO). Exact cutting not required, just knock the corners off(make some corner wedges!):D.