Hi All,
Here is another project for a lovely late summer afternoon: turning a bowl from a laminated turning block.
Solid wood bowls are lovely to make and to look at but solid wood blanks that are deep enough for a bowl are expensive and unless a wood turner has the ability and the tools to core out the center of the bowl, most of the wood that makes up the blank will wind up being turned off--essentially you will wind up with a big pile of wood shavings.
An alternative to some of this (it doesnt solve the wood shaving problem) is to use laminated turning blocks. These blocks are made up of different colored woods, usually scrap lumber left from some other project, and that are glued together into a block which can be sawed into a round shape and turned on the lathe:
There are some disadvantages to this type of blank: you have to be careful in gluing up the pieces. You must be sure to coat the surfaces of the boards completely with a good quality glue and clamp them securely for at least 24 hours. The direction of the grain needs to run in the same direction and you do need to use wood types that are similar in hardness. Using soft and hardwoods together isnt a good idea as the softwood will cut more quickly than its harder neighbors. This results in a very uneven surface. The other major drawback is the resulting bowl wont have the beautiful grain patterns that you can only find in a solid block of wood.
But there are advantages. Using kiln dried dressed lumber reduces the problems with cracking and warpage that you can have with a solid block. Also you can greatly affect the final appearance of a turned piece by using laminated lumber. And you can use up small pieces of wood so this cuts down on waste and expense.
Lets take our above block and do a little turning:
You can see the outside beginning to take shape and Ive also cut a foot into the bottom. Since youve seen me turn many bowls, Im going to dispense with all the in between photos and show you the finished bowl:
Here is the finished bowl next to a similar block:
This turned very well. I used maple and walnut together and they turned well together and these two woods also give a good color contrast next to each other.
Im going to take the bowl upstairs and apply a food safe finish to it and then tomorrow Ill place it back on the lathe, and polish it with beeswax.
See you tomorrow,
VW
Read More..
Here is another project for a lovely late summer afternoon: turning a bowl from a laminated turning block.
Solid wood bowls are lovely to make and to look at but solid wood blanks that are deep enough for a bowl are expensive and unless a wood turner has the ability and the tools to core out the center of the bowl, most of the wood that makes up the blank will wind up being turned off--essentially you will wind up with a big pile of wood shavings.
An alternative to some of this (it doesnt solve the wood shaving problem) is to use laminated turning blocks. These blocks are made up of different colored woods, usually scrap lumber left from some other project, and that are glued together into a block which can be sawed into a round shape and turned on the lathe:
There are some disadvantages to this type of blank: you have to be careful in gluing up the pieces. You must be sure to coat the surfaces of the boards completely with a good quality glue and clamp them securely for at least 24 hours. The direction of the grain needs to run in the same direction and you do need to use wood types that are similar in hardness. Using soft and hardwoods together isnt a good idea as the softwood will cut more quickly than its harder neighbors. This results in a very uneven surface. The other major drawback is the resulting bowl wont have the beautiful grain patterns that you can only find in a solid block of wood.But there are advantages. Using kiln dried dressed lumber reduces the problems with cracking and warpage that you can have with a solid block. Also you can greatly affect the final appearance of a turned piece by using laminated lumber. And you can use up small pieces of wood so this cuts down on waste and expense.
Lets take our above block and do a little turning:
You can see the outside beginning to take shape and Ive also cut a foot into the bottom. Since youve seen me turn many bowls, Im going to dispense with all the in between photos and show you the finished bowl:Here is the finished bowl next to a similar block:
This turned very well. I used maple and walnut together and they turned well together and these two woods also give a good color contrast next to each other.Im going to take the bowl upstairs and apply a food safe finish to it and then tomorrow Ill place it back on the lathe, and polish it with beeswax.
See you tomorrow,
VW
...and I decided to take it and put a small faceplate on the bottom and turn it. And you can see the set up here:
As I indicated yesterday the mahogany layer will form the rim of the bowl so that is the top and the bottom layer of red birch is the bottom layer. Ill cut the foot of the bowl from this layer in a minute or so.
...and you can see how smooth it is compared to the top photo.
Time to flip it over one more time and begin hollowing it out. You can see that Ive left a cone-shaped section in the center. This cone helps to steady the bowl while its being turned:
In the above picture you can see how Ive cut into the next, lighter layer of birch.
You can see how the bowl is deeper and the cone is smaller. I went ahead and cut the bowl down more deeply and I thinned out the walls of the bowl:
And I decided to stop there. Its not worth the risk of cutting into the screws and ruining the bowl. I sanded and oiled it and here it is at present:
Im going to oil over the next several days and give it a beeswax finish at the end and polish it. Ill post more photos when its done.