Turning Cherry Bowls - The process in words & pictures (Not yEnc this time)

[rockhound]

the pictures mentioned below were posted to: alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking please direct replies to: alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

introduction: dont know why they cut down this great tree but they did. one of the largest cherries ive seen around portland oregon. was almost four feet diameter at chest height, larger at the butt. by the time i noticed the tree was being removed they had already bucked it all up to about 2' lengths. they said help

yourself so... 4 trailer loads later i have a huge pile of cherry rounds in my yard. the smell of fresh cut cherry wood is amazing! varies from a really sweet smell like maraschino cherries to a more mild smell that reminds me of apple pie (really!).

i have taken conventional (35mm film) photos of the turning process before but for the most part have been too lazy to scan many of those to share on the ngs. having only recently acquired a digital camera i decided to snap a bunch of pics to show how i go about roughing out wooden bowls on the lathe.

of the pics i took over the last few days i selected 25 shots that i think do an ok job of illustrating the process i use. below is a list of the 25 pics and a brief description of each pic. if anyone wants more details on anything just let me know.

01RoughBowlBlanksJustCut.JPG out at the woodpile. a weelbarrow load of bowl blanks fresh off the chainsaw.

02RoughBowlBlanksInStudio.JPG me, my chainsaw, and the stack of just cut bowl blanks in my cramped basement

studio.

03RoughBlankOnLathe.JPG one of the blanks mounted between centers. 2 prong spur drive in headstock. live center in tailstock. no faceplate, no screws, no chuck.

04RoughBlankOnLatheSpinning.JPG same shot as #03 but with the lathe running

05BowlOutsideBetweenCenters.JPG here i have the outside of the bowl shaped. this shot shows the spur drive.

06BowlOutsideAnotherView.JPG this is another angle on the same bowl mostly just to show off how pretty the

wood is. :)

07BowlOutsideAnotherView2.JPG same story as the previous pic. this is another angle on the same bowl mostly

just to show off how pretty the wood is.

08thickness-6.5".JPG this shot is to give a better idea of the size of the work being shown. this bowl being aprox 6.5 inches thick.

09Diameter15".JPG this shot shows the diameter of the bowl at aprox 15 inches.

10VerticalGrain.JPG this shot is a testament to the large size of the log that this blank was cut

from which allowed me to have a 6.5" x 15" block that is basically quartersawn. notice how the growth rings show vertical grain across the whole

top of the block.

[e-mail] here is a close up shot of the bottom of the bowl showing the distinctive ray

fleck that is found in quartersawn cherry.

12PartingInW/StraightTool.JPG i will be "coring" out a solid piece of wood from the inside of the bowl that

i can use to make a smaller bowl. i begin this with a straight lance type tool i call "the harpoon".

13StraightTool.JPG a better shot of "the harpoon". i got this tool as part of the complete Mcnaughton center saving system but it would be a very easy tool to make.

14BeginW/CurvedTool.JPG next step is a Mcnaughton curved tool with the special torque arresting tool gate. because the tool is captured in the gate i do not find it necessary to attach the heavy handle. in fact i found that having a big heavy handle involved just got in the way and made the for a lot harder work. notice i have bent the tang on this tool so i can rotate farther toward the tailstock for a better starting angle.

15CurvedToolHalfWay.JPG here is the position of the curved tool after i have cut in a ways and the ribbons this cutter produces.

[e-mail] here is the position of the tool near the end of the cut.

17RoughBowl&Core.JPG the big bowl and her baby bowl lol.

18Bowl-InsideW/Core.JPG this bowl did not come out as smooth on the inside as i would have liked but thats the way it goes sometimes.

19RemountedForInsideCleanup.JPG i try to do well enough with the coring tools so that the larger bowl is perfectly roughed out and needs no further work until its dry and ready to finish. in this case i did not want to leave the large ridge inside because the bowl will dry better if the wall thickness is relatively even so i decided to re mount the bowl between centers to clean up the inside surface with a gouge.

20InsideClean.JPG there thats better :)

21Bowls&CoresBottom.JPG three bowls and their cores

22Bowls&CoresTop.JPG same 3 top view

23CoreBetweenCenters.JPG mount one of the cores between centers and the process begins again

24CoreJustPopedOut.JPG here is the curved tool all the way at the bottom of the cut and the next smaller core just after its popped out.

roughouts.jpg some of my roughed out bowls.

i hope this is helpful and/or interesting to someone. i would love to hear your feedback, comments, questions whatever.

neill