shining a flashlight through the thinnest bowls

[Electric Comet]

I watched an interesting video (don't have the link) on a japanese turner that shined a flashlight through the bowl sides. In some places the end grain was gone. He had techniques and tools that I've never seen and he sat down with the lathe, also on the floor. The tool met the bowl surface at least 6 inches from tool rest and at least 3 inches below. The tools look handcrafted, possibly made by the turner.

The are used as the base for those amazing lacquer bowls.

They strive for lightness and then add lacquer base coats and then lacquer final coats. And polish with a fine dry compound with bare hands. The turner only does turning. The base coat and final coats are applied by experts in that and the polishing is also done by separate experts. The polishers have to keep their hands soft and smooth.

These are very high end lacquer bowls. The bowls are desgined to be easily held one-handed for eating/drinking. Perfect for a noodle dish.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Japanese traditional wood turners use hook tools, which for bowl work is below center. However the bevel is still rubbing. If you check traditonal European turners like Robin Wood, you will see very similar tool positions.

Using a light to get consistent "thickness" in thin bowls is fairly standard (not that I can do it, but still)

[Electric Comet]

I will have to look at it some more. The metal was dark, black I think.

Interesting, seems impossible to have a catch with this approach.

Maybe standard but this was thin. In some places there were missing grains of wood and the light shone through completely.

I've never seen light used to measure the thickness. Maybe some day I'll try it. I think the tools and the techniques were the most interesting part. Sitting on the floor was also interesting. I've seen that before where a turner also used his hands and feet while turning. An african I think.

[southwalker]

I also have seen -a long while back- videos of a turner using a light inside a bowl to gauge thickness. I also had a chat with a turner in Erwin TN that used a bright light in turning these huge bowls which were very, very thin. I picked one up and was astonished at how lite it was.

Mostly today I see a laser on the outside being used on hollow forms.

[woodchucker]

When carving turtle decks on model airplanes years and years ago, I used to use light to make sure I lost all the weight I could and be uniformly thin. The thing with model airplanes is you don't want stress risers, so you want uniformity, or a gradual taper to thin, not thick then then. So using light for bowl turning seems normal to me, as you are carving it out to get it light.

[Electric Comet]

I am always appreciative of the amazing properties of wood.

How does that work? The turner looks inside? Or is it a measuring device?

[Electric Comet]

Darn now I have to look up what a turtle deck is.

It made sense when I saw it. The turner didn't like anyone one watching him while doing the final turning, it's a distraction and focus is required while turning. Making thin objects is exacting work. One mistake and you've ruined the piece.

[Meanie]

Watch this guy turn a small tree trunk.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

In 2009 Mike Mahoney did a demo at the Utah Symposium using a light to turn a bowl to a fairly uniform thickness of about 1/32 -while- telling stories and jokes about the other demonstrators at the symposium. By the end most of ones not actually doing their own program where in the back harassing him, trying to get him to slip and blow through the side of the bowl

[Martin Eastburn]

That was interesting. Not bad at all - and it can be a 6 or 8" as well for small lamps. Custom holders...

I spotted the one with the cowboy hat turning - my late Uncle did that in North Carolina. I think I have 3 or maybe 4 of the hats - semi formal to cowboy. He enjoyed helping people take care of large trees after a storm - hauling the large wood off for turning and small for fireplaces. There was a small group of three that all did the work together. Each retired and fraternal brothers. Rich life with close friends.

Martin

[southwalker]

Look at this link for one of the systems.

[Electric Comet]

That only tells you where the tool is inside the work. I don't see anything that measures thickness. The laser dot is visible on the outside of the bowl and matches the location of the tool on the inside. But nothing determines thickness and it's still possible to go right thru the side unless you check the thickness manually and take the usual care.

So there's no visible light to tell you how thick the sides are.

[Jerry Osage]

In a part of the video I watched he set the light about 1/4" to the left of the tool point. When the light missed hitting the outside of the turning that meant that the tool tip was within 1/4" of the outside surface of the wall so the wall thickness was about 1/4" thick.

[Electric Comet]

Not very exact. I could do that well just by feel. And there's no visible light shining thru so it's nothing at all like the technique used by the turner I saw.

I wouldn't want a large attachment on my gouge. It adds complexity and that could mean problems when there's a catch.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Good explanation of how laser pointers work