So about this bowl I just finidhed, the first thing ever I turned
without getting catches (was prouder of that than the bowl itself). I
made out of beech and it ended up about 3" tall, and 5" wide. I had
used Probond to glue it to the thingie plate (I'm not gonna believe it
if this called a banjo too...) which was screwed to the face plate.
When I did the gluing I didn't feel like going upstairs to get the
nice thick paper to put in between the two surfaces to be glued. Naw,
paper towel's right here and just as good. It sure was, until I was
finished and tried to whack the chisel to pop it loose... Hmmm, not
sure if this was the stuff that was advertised as stronger than the
wood itself, but you guessed it - no way, no how. The glue down plate
(by coincidence also beech, 1" thick at that) ended up splitting and
ripping apart as I kept whacking away with the hammer. Amazingly the
bowl remained totally intact although it did take a lot of sanding to
get the bottom clean Yes Sir, that's some glue!
Bart.
- BRBR

Hi Bart,
The "thingie plate" you refer to is called a glue block. You can use a paper
joint, or you can just glue the wood blank to the glue block and part off
through the glue joint when you're done if you don't want to use the grocery
bag paper. Parting off is done with a parting tool inserted straight into the
wood and as it cuts a straight kerf to the center the bowl will be freed. You
can cut most of the way with the parting tool and finish off with a handsaw
when you're first beginning. Otherwise you have to hold the parting tool with
one hand while you have the other hand on the bowl so you can catch it when it
parts free. The handsaw method is the safest until you've done it enough times
to be comfortable. It's easy to clean up the bottom with a 2-inch sanding disk
held in a drill or drill press, or when you get a chuck, the shaft of the
sanding disk will go in your chuck, which is what I do almost all the time.
Hope this helps,
-Jim Gott-
San Jose, CA