Darrell Feltmate wrote:
Now there is a question I get a lot at wood shows. "How long does it take to
turn a bowl like that?" So what kind of an answer do you give? A couple of
hours? Three or four? I turn rough and let dry so some may take a couple of
months and some a couple of years until I get around to finish turning. Have
they taken months, years, or 2-3 hours?
I roughed out three salad bowls from spalted birch today. Each blank was
brought inside and roughed to shape with a chain saw. All the extra pieces
were picked up and tossed in a kindling box. A screw chuck was mounted. The
piece was mounted on the lathe. After turning each piece was coated with
anchorseal. Shavings were cleaned up and bagged for the compost pile.Tools
were sharpened frequently and at one point I remade the stop blocks for the
sharpening jig because the wheel was worn and the angles were off.
So how did it take to rough the bowls? 45 minute each? An hour each?
What do you enlightened folks say?

My response depends on what I am charging for it. Seriously though, I
usually explain to them about the whole process the bowl goes through.
I explain how long roughing takes; how long the drying process takes;
the finish turning; and the finishing which I usually do when I have a
large number of bowls to do. I try to give them an approximate time of
actual work over the calendar time it takes from beginning to end.