Calico bowl

Well, Ive been up and working since about 6 this morning on the commissioned bowl for my friends mom. I wound up making her a "calico"-type bowl of hickory, mahogany, black ash,  and red birch.  It has a hickory bottom for stability and a hickory layer for the rim to make it strong. Ive also made it in a tumbler style so her paint brushes will stand up right and not fall out.
This bowl was tough to make as tall bowls are. And the biggest problem proved to be keeping it attached to the lathe as it was spinning. I used a jam chuck to over come this (more about jam chucks in a later posting) but at one point I got my fingers jammed between the chuck and the tool rest and the tool-I could have broken my fingers! As it is they are pretty sore at the moment.
Here is a photo of the bowl in its roughed out state:

I still need to smooth the interior of the bowl but the basic shaping is done. Ill be putting on a finish beginning Monday.
I think a calico bowl would make a great yarn bowl. What do you think?
Vickie

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Calico bowl sigh

Hi All,
While I was working on the calico bowl yesterday a critical piece of equipment failed and the bowl flew off the lathe and hit a wall and broke. Talk about having your heart sink. I fixed the bowl but I couldnt finish the interior sanding so Im not sure Ill be able to do anything with it.
I had already finished the exterior sanding and so I went ahead and applied the first layer of finish on it. Here are two pictures:

It was such a pretty bowl! Oh well, accidents happen...

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The Calico Bowl survives hickory plate and all those wood chips

Well, the calico bowl survived and is going to be claimed by the gentleman who ordered it originally. It looks lovely and it has a polyurethane and oil finish on it. I hope the new owner enjoys it.
Unfortunately my kitchenware line isnt selling well so Im converting some of my cutting boards into plates. I turned a hickory plate this morning. Hickory is a wonderful wood to work with as its very dense and hard and it cuts cleanly and finishes with little sanding needed. Here is a photo of the latest plate:

This plate is getting a Danish oil finish and will be done in a day or two. When the oil is dried, Ill polish it with a little beeswax. Lovely way to finish wood.
Ive done a lot of turning over the past several days and I created a mountain of shavings--two full trash can bags full along with assorted scrap lumber. If anyone in the Twin Cities area would like to have the shavings and saw dust for FREE, let me know and Ill arrange to get it to you.
Im going to take tomorrow off and work on business stuff. Ill be back soon.
VW

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