Bowl Blanks – Cook Woods

Turning Wood Bowls is one of the most enjoyable creative processes I know. However, to get started we need to know the procedures and techniques to make a wood bowl.

Instead, I had to piece-meal techniques and concepts together from various sources. And many times different sources had conflicting ideas. You may also want to begin to understand many of the details involved in making a wood bowl. When you finish reading this article be sure to check out this page as well. Many videos that are fun to watch gloss over steps that are important and treat them like everyone knows various techniques already.

I found that it was great seeing a fantastically finished bowl at the end of a Best Wood For Turning Bowls Uk Education video, but if I was still wondering how the base of that bowl attached to the lathe, I was confused.

I will also let you know when there are optional ways of doing a particular procedure. And to be very clear, we will be making a traditional round rim bowl with a mortise chuck connection on the bottom.

As you may know, there are many ways to make a wood bowl and whatever way works for you later is fine. But for now, we are keeping this bowl simple. You may have seen other techniques used elsewhere for turning wood bowls. This is perfectly fine.

There are infinite ways to get to a final wood turned bowl. For the sake of this step-by-step beginner guide, we will all be turning the same type of bowl with the same gouge techniques, etc. Later when you make a wood bowl, feel free to explore my best wood for turning bowls uk free articles and learn additional techniques to expand your knowledge and turning skills.

I want you to have as much usable knowledge possible to get you started turning wood bowls. My ultimate goal is for you to share my love and joy for turning wood bowls. There is nothing more satisfying than making a beautiful bowl from a discarded chunk of timber and sharing it with others. This joy of creating something from nothing is only part of why I love turning wood bowls.

Before we get started, there are a few items we will need to begin. Check with them and see what tools they have available on hand.

The checklist below is the essential minimum tools and equipment needed to get started. If, on the other hand, you know you want to start your path to make a wood bowl and start equipping your shop accordingly, see my Best wood for turning bowls uk free Resource Guide for a full list of gear and supplies for turning wood bowls. Easy Wood Tools and traditional woodturning gouges are a topic some people debate frequently.

You may follow these same steps and discard particular information about bowl gouge techniques. Or perhaps, let the bowl gouge info here inspire you to try your hand with a bowl gouge while turning wood bowls. Take a moment and read this article that thoroughly covers the details of the bowl gouge.

The checklist below does not include a lathe. Check your local AAW woodturning chapter and see if a member will be so kind as to introduce you to turning wood bowls and perhaps let you borrow their equipment. There are important characteristics of each lathe that you will need to know.

If you are not familiar with all the lathe jargon, check out this article about Identifying the Lathe Parts for more in-depth details. The two most significant factors you will need to know about the lathe you will be using is the swing height and the headstock spindle size. The swing height is the distance between the headstock spindle center and the lathe bed rails.

And the headstock spindle size is measured in diameter and thread count. Safety always comes first. We need to protect ourselves while we make a wood bowl. The safety glasses and full face shield might seem redundant. Let me assure you they are not redundant.

I know first hand that the face shield will absorb the bulk of a direct impact, but your eyes still need additional protection. The purpose for sharing this story is not to frighten, but make you aware of the possibilities. I have turned hundreds of bowls with only that one incident. However, I have had other debris, such as bark, bounce off my face shield, too.

Just wear it, please! If you are like me and require additional up close magnification to see clearly, there are safety glasses with built-in readers. See the link above. Go figure. For more details about safety while turning wood bowls, see this article wood bowl turning safety.

There are some habits you will want to establish when turning wood bowls at the lathe. These routines will become ingrained overtime, and that is a good thing. Always follow the instructions and safety recommendations for your particular lathe. The first best practice, and this may seem obvious, is to always stop the lathe before making any adjustments to the tool rest, banjo, or tailstock.

Secondly, best wood for turning bowls uk free beginning to turn, always place your bowl gouge on the tool rest first. Do not allow the bowl gouge to touch the spinning bowl blank before being properly seated. Best wood for turning bowls uk free will almost always result in a catch. Whenever possible bring the tailstock live center up to the bowl blank and use it to support and balance the rotating piece.

Locking the tailstock and using it to hold the bowl exterior makes for more stable bowl turning. There are several other best practices to employ while you make a wood bowl. Read this article for additional best wood bowl turning safety practices. Each step below is listed in chronological order from bowl blank and progressing to a final bowl. Follow each step, and you are on best wood for turning bowls uk free way to making a beautiful wood bowl… perhaps your first!

Click to jump to a particular step. We need to find the center of the bowl blank to get started. If you have a square bowl blank from the list above, use a straight edge and draw two pencil lines each from opposite corners of the blank. The x in the middle of the bowl should be very close, if not the exact center of the bowl. Use the compass to find out. Place the pointed leg of the compass on the center point and expand the compass to reach one of the short sides of the blank.

Now draw a circle all the way around the bowl blank. If the best wood for turning bowls uk free stays in and on the blank and comes right up to each short edge, this task Best Wood For Turning Salad Bowls Mask best wood for turning bowls uk free complete. If the circle extends over the edge of one or more of the edges, contract the compass to the shortest side and redraw a new circle.

Also, if the bowl blank is larger than the swing distance from the headstock to the bed rails of your lathe, you will need to draw a smaller circle and make the blank fit your particular lathe. We want to attach the bowl blank to the lathe needing as little rough turning as possible.

The best way to reduce this rough turning time is to remove the excess corners from our bowl blank. If you have a bandsaw, follow all best wood for turning bowls uk free appropriate safety procedures and use the compass circle as your guide to turn away the excess material, then proceed to step three.

Here is a guide to Bandsaw Basics. Instead of trying to follow the curve, which a pull saw is not capable of doing, we will lop off the large corners. This will leave an octagonally shaped best wood for turning bowls uk free blank. There are a number of ways to mount a bowl blank to the lathe. For our project, we will use a faceplate.

The faceplate is probably the most secure way I know to mount bowl blanks. Let me just say faceplates do a great job holding the bowl blank, but there are some things you never want to do with a faceplate. Most lathes come with a faceplate. Make sure the flat surface of the faceplate is smooth and free from any blemishes. Also, make sure the area around the marked center of the bowl blank is smooth and free of debris.

Using appropriate faceplate screws is critical. Never use drywall screws as they are not designed to handle the torque of a lathe. Use only high-quality wood or sheet metal screws. The diameter of the screws should fit snug without much play in the faceplate holes. The length of the screws should allow between five to seven threads remaining under the faceplate and attaching into the blank. Center the faceplate over the center mark of the bowl blank.

Go to the opposite side of the faceplate and insert and tighten the second screw. Work your way around the faceplate moving back and forth on opposite sides to assure a relatively best wood for turning bowls uk free connection. Finally tighten the first screw completely.

The following step is done with the lathe off. Loosen and slide the tool rest, banjo, and tailstock out of the way, if necessary. Hold the bowl blank in your right hand and, with your left hand, turn the headstock hand wheel.

Thread the faceplate onto the headstock spindle until best wood for turning bowls uk free seats firmly and securely to the base of the headstock spindle post. Still, with the lathe off, move the banjo and tool rest in toward the bowl blank.

Feb 14, - Explore Kevin Nieman's board "Woodturning Bowls" on Pinterest. See more ideas about wood turning, wood turning projects, turnings pins. Jul 09,  · Jul 9, - This Pin was discovered by Tony Knowlton. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest.

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