Rustic cherry bowl

[BuckeyeDennis]

They say that you never know what you'll find inside of a bowl blank until you start turning it. Well, my most recent bowl blank was from the same cherry log that I sliced up into tree cookies, as part of the table decor for my youngest daughter's wedding a couple of years ago. When her birthday rolled around this year, I decided that a bowl made from that log would make a nice gift, with extra sentimental value. And it being black cherry, I was expecting a graceful, fine-grained bowl from it.

So much for expectations. Not only did the blank (from a tree in our woods) have tons of mineral streaks, it had a dog inside! My wife swears that my Shopsmith revealed the face of our dearly departed old part-hound-dog, Tucker.

But before we get to that, I discovered yet another useful Shopsmith capability. This bowl was turned using all the same techniques as my applewood bowl, so I won't bore you with those details again. Except that when using my personalized branding iron on that one, I sweated bullets trying to handhold it (via a long stainless steel shaft and handle) well centered and true on the workpiece. On this bowl, my brain finally kicked into gear, and I realized that my Mark V itself would make a fine branding-iron press. So I unscrewed the handle, chucked the branding-iron shaft into a chuck mounted on the Shopsmith tailstock arbor, and used the quill feed to do the deed. No more sweating bullets.

Branding setup LowResJPG.JPG (109.7 KiB) Viewed 26372 times

BTW, that 18-8 stainless-steel branding iron shaft has such low thermal conductivity that I plan to cut in in half before using it again. After heating the head with a propane torch and branding the bowl, I could still touch the shaft with my finger about 2" from the head, with no discomfort.

Here's the resulting brand, after turning some accent circles and applying a coat of finish.

Bottom LowRes.JPG (72.35 KiB) Viewed 26372 times

[algale]

Holy cow that brand is loooooong!

Dennis, the bowl looks great! Can't wait to see the inside!

I want to try my hand at turning some bowls in the new year.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Despite the wood being rustic, the bowl turned out pretty well. I attempted a bit of rim detail for the first time, and was pleased with how it turned out. My daughter apparently agreed, as the bowl is now the centerpiece of her dining table.

Arranged LowRes.JPG (116.95 KiB) Viewed 26368 times

But did I mention that there's a dog in that thar bowl?

Tucker LowRes.JPG (51.84 KiB) Viewed 26368 times

Our old dog Tucker was nothing if not a chow hound, and he rentlessly bird-dogged me for a bite of my food. So now, when dining at my daughter's house, I make her turn the darned dog face away from me. Otherwise, I might have to throw some food into her centerpiece!

[BuckeyeDennis]

Holy cow that brand is loooooong!

Dennis, the bowl looks great! Can't wait to see the inside!

I want to try my hand at turning some bowls in the new year.

Thanks Al! You really should give it a go. Learning to use lathe tools efficiently is a challenge, and I'm not very far up the learning curve. For this bowl, for example, I bought myself a nice pro-grade bowl gouge. The experts make using them look sooooo smooth and easy. As for me, I quickly learned that I was totally incompetent with a bowl gouge, getting several huge catches severe enough to pop the bowl right out of the Cole jaws. Not wanting to destroy the blank, I reverted to my much slower, but easier to control, bowl scraper. A good YouTube video or two showed me exactly what I was doing wrong with the gouge, but I'll still practice my technique on some firewood before tackling another bowl.

What I really like about bowl turning is the ability to freehand nice organic shapes. Or for that matter, pretty much any shape that you find pleasing. It's a whole lot more about art than it is about precision.

[john]

Very nice bowl!

The shape, grain, and colouring are great. Nice idea with the branding iron also.

Congrats.

John

[BuckeyeDennis]

Thanks for the kind words, John. They're very much appreciated!

[JPG]

Since when is 'rustic' bad for a wooden bowl?

Are you sure it is thick enough? ;>}

[BuckeyeDennis]

Since when is 'rustic' bad for a wooden bowl?

Are you sure it is thick enough? ;>}

Waal now, I never said that rustic was bad. It just wasn't what I expected from that cherry log.

And let me tell you, I was plenty glad that the bowl wasn't wafer-thin when it popped out of the Cole jaws, crashed onto the concrete floor, and went spinning and bouncing off of my rolling toolboxes and whatnot! As it was, the only damage to the bowl was a few small dings that were easily dressed off.

Truth be told, I did want to turn the bowl down to about 3/8" thick. But that cherry was the most tear-out prone blank that I've ever worked with, even after putting the sharpest hook I could on the edge of my bowl scraper. So when I finally managed to get a smooth finish on the interior, I decided to call it good, as a thick wall is better than no wall!

[JPG]

Amen!

[chapmanruss]

The bowl turned out beautifully.

I like the creative way you set up the branding iron. Another example of how the Shopsmith can be used in less common ways to solve a problem in completing a task.