small camphor wane edged natural bowl

[mick59wests]

A few moons ago I scored some camphor from smife but have only recently turned the first piece. It is around 15cm long, 12cm wide and 5.5cm high at the two higher ends. Turning it as natural edge meant that the main colour (the heartwood) is not nearly so visible so I will have to think whether this is the best wood for this type of bowl.

I think the base is a bit wide, but with my limited skills I did not know how to easily remove the base so I did a recess. In doing the recess I needed to leave enough supporting wood/ The photos (accidentally on purpose :) ) do not really show this.

comments / suggestions welcome

cheers

Mick

[turnerted]

A good effort Mick.You got the wings the same height and kept most of the bark.You just need to work on getting the walls thinner.Removeing the base is easy with a vacuum chuck,but you can do it by just reversing on to a suitable dome shaped plug with a bit of padding and hold it on with the tailstock ,turn off as much as you're game then saw the nub off.Sand by holding a sanding cone in a jacobs chuck on the head stock an just hold the bowl in your hands.
Ted

[mick59wests]

A good effort Mick.You got the wings the same height and kept most of the bark.You just need to work on getting the walls thinner.Removeing the base is easy with a vacuum chuck,but you can do it by just reversing on to a suitable dome shaped plug with a bit of padding and hold it on with the tailstock ,turn off as much as you're game then saw the nub off.Sand by holding a sanding cone in a jacobs chuck on the head stock an just hold the bowl in your hands.
Ted
thanks Ted. Due to my trick photography the wings all look the same size, however the smaller ones are out by around 5mm. I agree on getting the walls thinner and as this was a small bowl I did miss an opportunity (although I do have a bowl in one piece :) ).
I am still getting my head around 'sanding cone in a jacobs chuck on the head stock'. I do at least know what a jacobs chuck is and also expect I can work out a sanding cone. However, putting the jacobs chuck in the headstock (which I do not believe has a morse taper) has blown me away so if you have a '101' explanation I would really appreciate it. Also, do you have separate sanding cones of different grips?

I must say that using the headstock for sanding sounds a great idea. I currently have a couple of different graded 'sanding drums' for my drill press that I use but this is fairly painful.

It is great to see experienced (and in my opinion extremely practical) people like yourself helping out learners like me

cheers and thanks

Mick

[turnerted]

Mick
I would be suprised if your lathe does not have a morse taper in the headstock.I am talking about the cones used for power sanding.They have a velcro grip surface and usually take a 50mm abrasive disc . Have a look on any suppliers web site and you'll see what I mean . They only cost a few dollers.
Ted

[smiife]

Hi mick,
Good to see you have use some of the CL,
Looks like a nice bowl and you have done well
to keep the bark on, would agree with ted on wall
thickness , but that will come with more practice
have attached a photo of the jacobs chuck and
sandind pad i use hope it helps explain !

[mick59wests]

Mick
I would be suprised if your lathe does not have a morse taper in the headstock.I am talking about the cones used for power sanding.They have a velcro grip surface and usually take a 50mm abrasive disc . Have a look on any suppliers web site and you'll see what I mean . They only cost a few dollers.
Ted
Ted,
you are quite right and I never realised it. That opens up a number of other possible uses so I now have learnt something and have some things to chase up on.
Very much appreciated
Mick

[mick59wests]

Hi mick,
Good to see you have use some of the CL,
Looks like a nice bowl and you have done well
to keep the bark on, would agree with ted on wall
thickness , but that will come with more practice
have attached a photo of the jacobs chuck and
sandind pad i use hope it helps explain !
smife,

thanks - we must have been posting at the same time. I actually have one of those discs and a jacobs chuck so will be able to do the same

cheers

Mick

[jefferson]

Mick, the other option with natural edged bowls is to turn a rim or bead on the inside. You can use this to locate on a jam chuck and hold the piece also with screwed wedges when you reverse it and turn off the tenon. The extra detail looks nice too.

[mick59wests]

Mick, the other option with natural edged bowls is to turn a rim or bead on the inside. You can use this to locate on a jam chuck and hold the piece also with screwed wedges when you reverse it and turn off the tenon. The extra detail looks nice too.

Jeff,
thanks for that. I like that idea
cheers
Mick