You've taken the biggest step to turning bowls, the first. If this
experience doesn't discourage you you'll be hooked soon.

Well I decedided try my luck turning a bowl. I chose walnut. Picked
up a slab of 1x6, cut it into 6"lengths and laminated them to a
height of 5". I hear Walnut makes a beautiful turning if I don't
mess it I.

I've used some walnut grade lumber, and found that it isn't the best.
I had a piece of 8/4. Walnut can be turned to a great finish, but
when too dry i've found it to be hard to get that good finish.

A couple of concerns, the tearout seems to be an issue, some of the
tears seem to be 1/16" deep, a lot of them on the end grain, tools
seem pretty sharp however. I suppose the tearout will be remedied
with some patience and a few sheets of 80 grit. The tearout occurs
mainly on the outside of the bowl.

Your tools need to be Sharp, not just pretty sharp, and kept that way,
but more importantly a good finish comes from good technique - that
means practice and patience.

Also my old lathe has what seems like 3/16 to 1/4" of play parallel
to the bed so's when I press on my gauge to hollow out the bowl the
workpeice moves a fair bit (3/16") back toward the headstock. Well
I just wanted to bounce this off you all and see what feedback it
may generate.

You're describing a lathe that is sorely in need of repair! The
bearings either need to be tightened up or replaced. Any movement is
bad, that much sounds like one (or more) of the bearing-caps has come
loose and may be lost in the dust of the floor. Get it fixed first,
then you'll find your turnings will be getting lots better.

mike



--
Michael Vore, W3CCV M-ASA [Ka8]; WHIRL, ABC; CAW, CW, AAW
http://mike.vorefamily.net/ohmywoodness -Custom Woodworking
http://mike.vorefamily.net/thewoodenradio -The weblog

I would recommend a suitable book or a demo from a local turner to get
started. Bowls aren't like spindles. You would be better off using a bowl
gouge.

Scrapers can be used but it will take you 3x-8x longer. Lots of good books
around. I found Richard Raffan's bowl book to be very useful.

Jeff Jilg
Austin, TX




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An edge is an edge. Bowl gouges work best in items deep relative to their
diameter, and where they must reach out some distance over the toolrest.
Outsides of bowls don't require one at all.

Fix the lathe and turn with what you have.

"Bmo" wrote in message
om...
I will try to fix the old lathe definitely. Am I asking for trouble
trying to hollow out my bowls with spindle gouges? Should I gring a
steeper bevel angle into one of my scrapers for this purpose or do I
have to buy a bowl gouge?

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 03:34:20 GMT, "Bernie" wrote:

Well I decedided try my luck turning a bowl. I chose walnut. Picked up a
slab of 1x6, cut it into 6"lengths and laminated them to a height of 5". I
hear Walnut makes a beautiful turning if I don't mess it up.
A couple of concerns, the tearout seems to be an issue, some of the tears
seem to be 1/16" deep, a lot of them on the end grain, tools seem pretty
sharp however.

When you get to the point where you are doing the final finishing
cuts, resharpen your gouge to make sure you have a good edge and make
light cuts. It also helps to have the edge of the gouge which is
cutting at an angle (at least 45 degrees as a rule of thumb) to the
work so a "slicing" or "shearing" cut is made.

I suppose the tearout will be remedied with some patience and
a few sheets of 80 grit. The tearout occurs mainly on the outside of the
bowl.

Which way are you turning the outside of the bowl ? Assuming the
direction of grain is across the bowl (side grain) and not up through
it (end grain), you should turn the outside of the bowl from the
smallest to the largest diameter. i.e. from the centre out. The inside
of the bowl should be turned from the largest to the smallest
diameter. i.e. from the edge of the bowl to the centre.
This way you will minimise cuts made "against" the grain and should
get less tearout as a result.

Also my old lathe has what seems like 3/16 to 1/4" of play parallel to the
bed so's when I press on my gauge to hollow out the bowl the workpeice moves
a fair bit (3/16") back toward the headstock.

I would get it fixed so there was no play, this will cause lots of
problems if you don't and could even be dangerous under some
circumstances!



Cheers

Paul
www.hannaby.com
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