Shopsmith Forums

I tried my hand at turning my first bowl and here is the results. I cut the blank from a chunk of red cedar a friend gave to me so the bowl is only 4 3/4" diameter. I finished it with wipe-on poly and wax. The tools I used were the 3/4" bowl gouge reshaped to a fingernail grind and a scraper. Both from the Shopsmith bowl turning set. Also the Nova G3 on a midi lathe.

curiousgeorge wrote:I tried my hand at turning my first bowl and here is the results. I cut the blank from a chunk of red cedar a friend gave to me so the bowl is only 4 3/4" diameter. I finished it with wipe-on poly and wax. The tools I used were the 3/4" bowl gouge reshaped to a fingernail grind and a scraper. Both from the Shopsmith bowl turning set. Also the Nova G3 on a midi lathe.

Real nice job George!!! I love that grain. I heard many people get VERY addicted to turning. Nice photos too. Glad you have your hand in one of them to show the scale.

Nice job Curiousgeorge. Keep up the good work.
My first bowl was about 7" in diameter and turned from a black walnut blank. It was a Christmas present for my son last year. I finished it with a butcher block oil from Rockler. I was pleased for my first attempt.

Bob
San Diego

nice looking piece, good job!

Very nice work there George. I can't wait to do some turning again myself. Wait till you start trying the segmented turning. That really makes a big difference in the size of turnings because you can use 3/4 inch stock. And on the shopsmith I was able to create a 14 inch bowl for my wife using the segmented method. Pics of it are on my youtube stuff. That cedar has some real pretty grain. I would be proud of your turning abilities.

Thanks, all, for your nice comments.

Wait a minute! I'm sure you aren't through receiving comments on your first bowl. The simple sweeping lines of this bowl, make it appear to be deceptively simple to make. However I'm sure you went through quite a thought provoking process, as well as a mechanical one figuring how you were going to touch your chisels to the wood to get this result.

Nice work, George!:D

Nice try for your first attempt. Red cedar? Interesting, because from the photos I thought it was pine and I thought it would be too soft to work with.

That is a good looking bowl, George!

Nice looking bowl!

I had turned some cedar for some large lures a while back and found it difficult to cut do to the soft/hard contrast in the wood. I had a bit of a catching problem as well as tearout so color me impressed with what you have done.

Ed