Category: Bowls

By Jo Miller

Laurent Niclot demonstrated turning a small votive bowl that lies off-center, with eccentric slits to allow the light to shine through .  He began with an end-grain piece of green olive wood ~ 2” long x 1.5” in diameter.  He placed the wood between centers and rounded the piece using a roughing gouge.  He prefers to use a bedan (3/8” or 3/16 rectangular tip) for most of his shaping  which he feels produces in the cleanest surface.  He also used and explained how to use a Vicmarc #3 Escoulen chuck to enable him to move the bowl off center and create the slits on only one side of the bowl. While this is an expensive chuck (~$425) he felt it was this most stable for off center work.  The Sorby chuck is less expensive but not as heavy – so might be OK for smaller pieces. 

A tenon was turned to fit the cup chuck – which was then hammered into the chuck.  Once the wood was in the cup, the began shaping the bottom of the bowl using the edges of the bedan tool with his arm at first farther away from his body and then rolling into his side. He also demonstrated how a spindle gouge with a long sweeping edge could also be used for this shaping. 

Once the bottom of the bowl was shaped, the cup was then moved away from the center of the chuck and the counter weights adjusted to maintain stability while the wood was spinning at a fast speed.  For safety, the live center was engaged with the top of the bowl.  With the cup at the farthest position from the center and the tool rest adjusted, a slit was cut in the wood ~ 3/8” from the top edge and shaped slightly.  The slit should be deep enough so that once the bowl is hollowed, the slit will go through the side of the bowl.  Once this first slit is made, the bowl is moved 2 mm closer to the center and another slit is made in the middle of the bowl in the same way.  Again the bowl is moved 2mm for a 3^rdslit near the bottom of the bowl.  The slit at the top of the bowl will be longest and the bottom slit the shortest.  

The bowl is hollowed with the cup of the chuck in the center position.  Laurent demonstrated the use of several tools for the hollowing process.   With a spindle gouge the handle should be parallel to the wood and moved from center to the outside edge.  This prevents tear outs with straight-grained wood blanks.  A bowl gouge should have the handle low and move from a 12 to 2 o’clock position – still starting in the center.  The bowl gouge is less aggressive than the spindle gouge.  A hook tool can also be used which is a good tool for end grain but you need a hole in the middle.  The tool rest must be farther away and the hook cuts with only one bevel.  A rounded scraper can also be used and may be the easiest to use.  Continue hollowing until all three cuts are visible through the wall of the bowl and the thickness you want.   

Once the bowl is hollowed, continue shaping  and rounding the bottom of the bowl.  Leave a small triangular shape at the bottom and cut from the tenon on the far side of the triangle to prevent any tear out at the bowl bottom.  Remove the rest with a hand chisel and sand to smooth the bottom. 

To finish, sand and let the bowl dry several days. Make a flat side by sanding on the side opposite the slits.  You don’t was it too tilted to prevent a flame from the tea light from burning the inside of the bowl.  Once dried, finish with a hard oil 2-4 coats or a mixture of wax (20%) and grape seed oil (80%).  Do not use lacquer because of the flame.

Remove the tenon from the chuck using either 1) a knock out bar if its small enough, 2) wait for the wood to dry and it will loosen enough to tap it out or 3) cut away the wood with a bedan until their is only a thin piece, cut through the bottom with a bowl gouge, then use a spindle gouge to scrape the inside until you can break off and pull off the thin ring of wood left in the chuck.  

Tool resources

Bedans – 5×9 mm; 10×10 mm; 12x12mm – Woodworkersemporium.com

Hook tool (Hosuluk) – woodturningtoolstore.com

Vicmark  #3 Escoulen chuck – V00295#3 – woodworkersempoium.com

Over the weekend of November 2 – 3, 2019, Tucker Garrison led a packed workshop for novice turners and those wishing to brush up on some technical aspects of turning. The weekend had a waiting list as many wanted to participate. Promising to demonstrate beads, coves, and bowl turning, the club moved in a couple of extra lathes to allow for additional participants.

We started Saturday morning at 8:30 watching Tucker demonstrate beads. Using green wood, he carefully trued up the blank and, using tongue depressors as guides, marked lines for the beads and the coves. Then, using the parting tool, removed wood, leaving the rises for the beads. He showed us the way to hold the gouge so that our movements end up completing the bead. In other words, because twisting your arm is needed to complete the bead, beginning with the end in mind can position your arm in a way that makes the cut comfortable. After expertly turning a bead, he showed us the common mistake made by beginners – creating a v shape instead of the round curve. 

    After sufficient time to try creating beads, Tucker gathered us around the lathe again to learn how to turn coves. It’s essentially doing the opposite. 

    Once the group mastered the beads and coves, they were handed dry wood and shown several examples of candle sticks that were created using beads and coves of various shapes and sizes. 

    The following day, Tucker demonstrated small bowl turning. He explained that all the cuts in a large bowl are found in turning a small one – but less wood to take out. Randy Swing took great notes and they are copied below:

2nd day – bowl turning

Tucker and Bill Rucker shared the demonstration and instruction

Turning a small greenwood bowl.

·       CMW provided pre-cut bowl blanks.  These were flat on two sides with centers marked and had been shaped to roughly round on a bandsaw. 

·       Tucker recommends that the sides and bottom be slightly thinner than the rim so that the green wood will dry with less chance of cracking.  He showed an example of a cracked bowl that resulted from the bottom being thicker than the sides. We aimed for ¼” thick rims and 3/16” for the rest of the bowl.

·       Bowl design was discussed.  A smooth, continuous curve is desired.  New turners tend to make bowls that have flat sides (like a flowerpot) and have a flat bottom on the inside.

·       We mounted them between centers with a drive center in the headstock and a live center in the tail stock.

·       On greenwood, a “jumbo 4-winged” drive center is best.  Small drive centers will bore into the soft greenwood blank.  The 1.5” “jumbo” size does not drill into the blank as easily.

·       We mounted the wood blanks so that the bottom of the bowl will be at the tail stock and the top of the bowl will be at the head of the lathe. 

·       The shape of the outside of the bowl was made using a ½” bowl gouge with a fingernail grind.  As the shape started to form, we added a tenon next to the tailstock. The tenon was sized to fit the provided 4-jaw chuck. 

·       Rucker demonstrated use of the bowl gouge to shape the outside of the bowl.  We cut from the bottom of the bowl toward the top of the bowl so that fibers were supported during the cut.  Cutting with fibers supporting the cut produces the smoothest cut.

·       Rucker noted that it is important to sand through all grits.  He recommends grits of 80, 120, 180, 220, 320, and 400. The idea is to go up about 40 grits with each paper change.

·       After completing the shape of the outside of the bowl and refining the tenon, the wood was removed from the lathe.  We installed 4-jaw chucks (headstock side) and remounted the wood using the tenon.

·       We hollowed out the bowl by starting in the center and “scooping” out the wood.  This requires swinging the bowl gouge handle across the lathe bed and away from the turner.  The tool handle swings toward the turner as the cut is made.

·       It becomes difficult to ride the bevel as the tool transition from the wall of the bowl to the bottom of the bowl. We were introduced to a “bottom feeder” gouge – a bowl gouge grind with an angle of about 50 degrees.  This tool is easier to use in the bottom of a bowl than the fingernail grind we had mainly used to that point.

·       The bowls were sent home to dry slowly.  These bowls will become oval as they dry.  We turned them to final thickness so they will not be turned a second time after they dry.

Natural Edge Bowl

·       We started with round greenwood blocks of Yellow Birch.  One side was the natural edge of the tree with the bark still attached.  The other side was cut flat. 

·       We used 2-wing drive centers.  By placing the 2 wings into the bark side of the blank with the wings running across the grain, there is plenty of holding power

·       The rim of a natural edge bowl has two high points and two low points due to the natural shape of a tree.  The blank needs to be mounted so that a pleasing balance of the points is achieved. Slight adjustments of the location of the live center in the tail stock allows the turner to adjust how evenly the final bowl’s rim will turn out.

·       Once mounted between centers, the natural edge bowl is produced the same as the bowl turned in the morning.

·       After reversing and mounting the bowl in the 4-jaw chuck, the approach to hollowing out the bowl varies a little from what was used in the morning’s class.  Because we are starting out cuts on the bark of the tree, we enter the wood as close to 90 degrees as possible. This allows us to keep the bark on the bowl and it assures that the rim appears to be even thickness even across the two high points and two lows points. 

·       After forming the rim while keeping the bark on, the interior of the bowl is finished using both the fingernail ground bowl gouge and the bottom gouge.

·       The turned bowls were taken home to dry.

Submitted by Anne Ogg and Randy Swing

Thanks to Randy for many of the photos!