This post is for fellow beginners who use chain saws to shape bowl
blanks since they don't have big band saws.

I was using an electric chain saw to shape the blanks using my foot to
hold the blanks in place until realizing the more times you do this
the better the chance you injure your foot. Trent Bosch has a video
on bowls where he demonstrates a stand to hold bowels for carving
after they are turned. I started wondering if there was a way to make
something similar but simpler to hold bowl blanks whle cutting off the
corners so they fit on a lathe. Bosch's stand used compressed air and
you could screw a faceplate to it. That would be big bucks.

This is a link to something much simpler and cheaper you may want to
do: http://warpedwoodturner.blogspot.com...blank-cutting-
stand.html

The stand consists of two floor flanges connected to a piece of pipe.
One flange is attached to a wooden stand formerly used under the axle
of a light to keep the wheels off the ground. The other floor flange
is screwed to the log after cutting it in half. The top flange is 4"
in diameter and works fine with a 4" faceplate if you mark the wood
before removing the top floor flange. (I should add 'floor flange' is
what the lavel on the thing said. I am not a plumber).

wrote in message
ups.com...
This post is for fellow beginners who use chain saws to shape bowl
blanks since they don't have big band saws.

I was using an electric chain saw to shape the blanks using my foot to
hold the blanks in place until realizing the more times you do this
the better the chance you injure your foot. Trent Bosch has a video
on bowls where he demonstrates a stand to hold bowels for carving
after they are turned. I started wondering if there was a way to make
something similar but simpler to hold bowl blanks whle cutting off the
corners so they fit on a lathe. Bosch's stand used compressed air and
you could screw a faceplate to it. That would be big bucks.

This is a link to something much simpler and cheaper you may want to
do: http://warpedwoodturner.blogspot.com...blank-cutting-
stand.html

The stand consists of two floor flanges connected to a piece of pipe.
One flange is attached to a wooden stand formerly used under the axle
of a light to keep the wheels off the ground. The other floor flange
is screwed to the log after cutting it in half. The top flange is 4"
in diameter and works fine with a 4" faceplate if you mark the wood
before removing the top floor flange. (I should add 'floor flange' is
what the lavel on the thing said. I am not a plumber).


Can't get your link to work but

http://warpedwoodturner.blogspot.com/

gets me there. Good idea.

Have you tried turning the desam bread? It doesn't need rounding with the
chain saw.

BillR

The link in my original post for some reason showed up with the end of
the link not in 'blue' on the 2nd line.
I had not highlighted anything when I sent it so something gotboth
added and lost in the translation when the e-mail was sent. If you
cut and paste the ENTIRE link it hopefully will work for you (the link
is on two lines and ends with html).

Also, the most recent attemds at desem bread mentioned have been
interesting to eat but a chain saw might have been handy with the
first attempts. (but that is all for the sourdough group not this one)

On 14 Feb 2007 11:38:11 -0800, wrote:

This post is for fellow beginners who use chain saws to shape bowl
blanks since they don't have big band saws.

I was using an electric chain saw to shape the blanks using my foot to
hold the blanks in place until realizing the more times you do this
the better the chance you injure your foot. Trent Bosch has a video
on bowls where he demonstrates a stand to hold bowels for carving
after they are turned. I started wondering if there was a way to make
something similar but simpler to hold bowl blanks whle cutting off the
corners so they fit on a lathe. Bosch's stand used compressed air and
you could screw a faceplate to it. That would be big bucks.

This is a link to something much simpler and cheaper you may want to
do: http://warpedwoodturner.blogspot.com...blank-cutting-
stand.html

The stand consists of two floor flanges connected to a piece of pipe.
One flange is attached to a wooden stand formerly used under the axle
of a light to keep the wheels off the ground. The other floor flange
is screwed to the log after cutting it in half. The top flange is 4"
in diameter and works fine with a 4" faceplate if you mark the wood
before removing the top floor flange. (I should add 'floor flange' is
what the lavel on the thing said. I am not a plumber).

That's a good idea- thanks for sharing.

Although, I do have to rib you just a little- why would you draw a
circle on the bottom of the blank and then point it at the ground?

Prometheus:

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention in the previous posts
that the next version of the contraption will have mirrors at the
bottom of the stand to show you what you have just cut off relative to
the marked circle plus electric fans to blow the chips away from the
mirrors I had thought about hanging something from the ceiling or
attaching it to the walls but those ideas did not seem workable so
went with something to sit on the floor. Thanks for pointing out I
was working harder rather than smarter. Chiseling or shaving a flat
spot on the round side of the log is obvious in hindsight.

On Feb 15, 6:05 am, "twwt" wrote:
Prometheus:

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention in the previous posts
that the next version of the contraption will have mirrors at the
bottom of the stand to show you what you have just cut off relative to
the marked circle plus electric fans to blow the chips away from the
mirrors I had thought about hanging something from the ceiling or
attaching it to the walls but those ideas did not seem workable so
went with something to sit on the floor. Thanks for pointing out I
was working harder rather than smarter. Chiseling or shaving a flat
spot on the round side of the log is obvious in hindsight.

When I used to use the chainsaw for prepping blanks, I would mark
vertical lines on the round, one or two down the center (depending on
how much of the pith had to be removed), and ones on the outside of
the round, parallel to the center lines. This last cut would give a
flat spot for the blank to sit on while I trimmed off the corners.
Trimming off the corners while the bottom of the blank is round is
very difficult and dangerous. I had considered a jig of some sort to
help stabilize the blank, but decided that it would be too much
hastle.
robo hippy

Actually, it is kind of easy to use a chain saw to round off a bowl blank
10" or better in diameter. The wieight is enough to stabilize it in the saw
buck I use with the round side down. I draw a circle on the top and knock
the corners off with the chian saw, leaving an octagon. then I use the saw
to make a flat on the rounded side. Finally I cut a couple of wedges off the
rounded side to make the roughing go faster and leave a couple of small bits
for scrap or kindling. For smaller blanks I either leave then rectangular
and knock off the corners on the lathe or put them on the band saw table,
flat down. Then a circle cutout is nailed to the top and I band saw round
it. I like your idea but it seems like a lot of work since I already have
the buck and need one. It is on the tips page at
ttp://aroundthewoods.com/tips.shtml and in use at
http://aroundthewoods.com/firewood.shtml about half way doen in each case.

--

God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com


"robo hippy" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 15, 6:05 am, "twwt" wrote:
Prometheus:

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention in the previous posts
that the next version of the contraption will have mirrors at the
bottom of the stand to show you what you have just cut off relative to
the marked circle plus electric fans to blow the chips away from the
mirrors I had thought about hanging something from the ceiling or
attaching it to the walls but those ideas did not seem workable so
went with something to sit on the floor. Thanks for pointing out I
was working harder rather than smarter. Chiseling or shaving a flat
spot on the round side of the log is obvious in hindsight.

When I used to use the chainsaw for prepping blanks, I would mark
vertical lines on the round, one or two down the center (depending on
how much of the pith had to be removed), and ones on the outside of
the round, parallel to the center lines. This last cut would give a
flat spot for the blank to sit on while I trimmed off the corners.
Trimming off the corners while the bottom of the blank is round is
very difficult and dangerous. I had considered a jig of some sort to
help stabilize the blank, but decided that it would be too much
hastle.
robo hippy

"Darrell Feltmate" wrote in message
news:Tp9Bh.81892$Y6.24681@edtnps89...
Actually, it is kind of easy to use a chain saw to round off a bowl blank
10" or better in diameter. The wieight is enough to stabilize it in the
saw buck I use with the round side down. I draw a circle on the top and
knock the corners off with the chian saw, leaving an octagon. then I use
the saw to make a flat on the rounded side. Finally I cut a couple of
wedges off the rounded side to make the roughing go faster and leave a
couple of small bits for scrap or kindling.

When I can, I'd rather bandsaw, but those wedges certainly do make good
kindling, don't they? Enough substance to the thick end to be more than a
flash, and easy to ignite on the thin. Set 'em on a bed of lathe shavings
and it's instant fire!

Sure helps on these -30C with the wind chill days.

--

God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com


"George" wrote in message
t...

"Darrell Feltmate" wrote in message
news:Tp9Bh.81892$Y6.24681@edtnps89...
Actually, it is kind of easy to use a chain saw to round off a bowl blank
10" or better in diameter. The wieight is enough to stabilize it in the
saw buck I use with the round side down. I draw a circle on the top and
knock the corners off with the chian saw, leaving an octagon. then I use
the saw to make a flat on the rounded side. Finally I cut a couple of
wedges off the rounded side to make the roughing go faster and leave a
couple of small bits for scrap or kindling.

When I can, I'd rather bandsaw, but those wedges certainly do make good
kindling, don't they? Enough substance to the thick end to be more than a
flash, and easy to ignite on the thin. Set 'em on a bed of lathe shavings
and it's instant fire!

On 15 Feb 2007 06:05:21 -0800, "twwt" wrote:

Prometheus:

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention in the previous posts
that the next version of the contraption will have mirrors at the
bottom of the stand to show you what you have just cut off relative to
the marked circle plus electric fans to blow the chips away from the
mirrors I had thought about hanging something from the ceiling or
attaching it to the walls but those ideas did not seem workable so
went with something to sit on the floor. Thanks for pointing out I
was working harder rather than smarter. Chiseling or shaving a flat
spot on the round side of the log is obvious in hindsight.

No problem. Though your stand has got me wondering now... with the
way it's held up off the ground on a pipe like that, I'd be
interesting to see what a guy could do by making an arm of some sort
that went from that pipe, around the wood, and bolted to a cheap
electric chainsaw to make a sort of big flycutter to trim blanks to
round.

I'll confess to not knowing that much about chainsaws, though- could
be that the idea has no merit at all. It seems kind of strange to
admit it given my woodturning hobby, but using a chainsaw is about the
last thing I ever feel like doing- if it weren't for that, I'd
probably turn far more often.

I'm going to make your jig, though- it makes an awful lot of sense to
me, and is almost certain to make cutting blanks more enjoyable.