This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

I like to finish the bottom of a piece separately from the rest. Sometimes I
have a dozen "finished" bowls or other forms waiting to sand, sign and
finish the bottoms. This way they rest comfortably while the finish dries.
Patience is an important tool in any wood working.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com
"tww" wrote in message
...
This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

On Tue, 20 May 2008 06:05:26 -0700 (PDT), tww
wrote:

Diddo to finishing the bottoms have a whole weeks worth of turnings
lined up then go over the whole item one more time to look for
erriors then work the bottoms
Don

On May 20, 8:05*am, tww wrote:
This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. *If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about *taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

Yes it is a two step process, bottom are done at a seperate time.

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

On Tue, 20 May 2008 06:05:26 -0700 (PDT), tww wrote:

This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

Same here, I guess that's how most of us do it..

I have a small (24" x 24") table that's for "work in progress" and usually has a
few pieces with Danish oil on either the inside or outside/bottom..
I spread paper towels over it to catch and excess and keep it from pooling..
Never had the toweling stick to the finish, but that might just be the
properties of the Danish oil..

Also, I usually oil the bottom of the piece on the lathe, while it's on the
vacuum chuck.. I let it soak in for a few minutes and then wipe off the excess,
then it goes "bottoms up" on the paper towels..
When the oil sets, I'll either re-oil it or flip it over and oil the inside..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I also usually turn the bottoms later. But for those few times that
I don't, or when I've turned something like an egg (that doesn't have
a bottom), I made a couple of very simple jigs to hold the piece. It
will hold a bowl face up, or hold an egg for spraying.
It's just 3 very small holes (~3/32 or so) in a scrap of flat wood
that hold half toothpicks broken in the middle, pointy end up.
The points are extremely small so they don't damage the finish, or
cause the oil to collect, and are easily replaced if broken.
If you combine this holder with a lazy-susan type base, you have a
perfect holder for spraying lacquer. And if you're making several
items (see eggs again), just put several 3-hole patterns in the board
and put an egg (or bowl) on each set.
Tom Weber in Merritt Island, FL

This is not an answer to the finishing question but a suggestion about
your "nail board". I went to Home Depot and in the framing material
section they have all kinds of brackets and straps to hold joists ect.
I found some straps that have small spikes on one side and smooth on the
other. I think they are used across were wood joins. Any ways I
stapled a couple to a piece of plywood with the spikes up and use that
for different finishing projects. Quick and cheap.

Bruce



tww wrote:
This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

As per usual it helps to tap into the experience of the people in this
group when looking for options. Thanks to all.

The American Woodturner magazine has an answer to my original question
where I mentioned thinking of making a 'bed of nails'. In the Tips
section John Williams had a tip on using old bandsaw blades. You cut
the blade about 10" long and fold it to about 45 degrees. Then you
can set a finished piece on the blade with the teeth side up or
multiple blades for larger items. (I took the advice of the people in
the group and am now doing the bottoms seprate from the rest of the
bowls I have made but this was another option I had not heard of and
may come in handy some time).

In message
, tww
writes
The American Woodturner magazine has an answer to my original question
where I mentioned thinking of making a 'bed of nails'. In the Tips
section John Williams had a tip on using old bandsaw blades. You cut
the blade about 10" long and fold it to about 45 degrees. Then you
can set a finished piece on the blade with the teeth side up or
multiple blades for larger items. (I took the advice of the people in
the group and am now doing the bottoms seprate from the rest of the
bowls I have made but this was another option I had not heard of and
may come in handy some time).

The best solution to me would be the stands used for Ceramics when being
kiln fired. Very sharp points in a triangle placement. You could
simulate this with a thin sheet of ply/ hardboard with carpet tacks. It
might even work to put three tacks through an old CD ( may need heating)

--
John

On May 20, 5:05*pm, tww wrote:
This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. *If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about *taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?

as i follow the rules of making such a good piece of wood dry thing is
the most precious because it took a lot of my time.
send me some of yours by email
we can do more send me your samples and we can the bottom.

I leave the tenon on the bottom until I am done finishing.

Then I remount the bowl, hit the finish with fine steel wool, then wax
it and spin it at high speed to buff.

After that, i turn off the tenon,, sand it, sign it, and finish it. I
just turn the bowl upside down to let the finish dry. On natural edge
bowls, I set them on a plastic container such as a coffee can.

When I have to have a wet bottom (on the bowls mind you) I use the
press on gang nail plates that you get at the hardware store. I got
mine from a truss company.


OLd Guy



On May 20, 8:05*am, tww wrote:
This has never been a problem in the past since I only used mineral or
walnut oil for the most part but when you put shellac on an unfinished
bowl you have to put the wet bowl some place to let it dry. *If you
put it on newspaper when it is dry you will probably have a bowl with
newspaper stuck to the bottom. I assume a wet bowl put on a board
would end up with a defective bottom as well.

I thought about *taking a 1" board and pounding nails through it and
turning it upside down so the wet bowls would sit on a bed of nails
and only have very small places where the finish would not dry right
away.

How do the people in this group dry things without leaving defective
places on the bottom?