My very first bowl

[skot]

Well, I finally got around to attempting a bowl..not fancy...but the first one seems so exciting. Probably use it for nuts at xmas.

It is a piece of jacaranda that flew off the lathe yesterday....I was able to rechuck it and repair the recess in the base...(see pic 1). This time I made the recess deeper and it stayed on the chuck. I cut a small cove about 20mm up from the base to give it a little shape.

Hopefully someone on the forum can help me...I had trouble removing the little nib of timber in the centre (see pic 3). When I get into the centre to try and take it off, the gouge tends to grab and scares the living c$%p out of me, as I must be passing the centre and into the upward rotation of the timber. I have the tool rest about 6mm below centre ....it this too low or too high for bowl turning the inside. Do you use the side cutting edge or the tip to remove this bit of wood.

All hints greatfully accepted

[Ed Reiss]

Well, I finally got around to attempting a bowl..not fancy...but the first one seems so exciting. Probably use it for nuts at xmas.

It is a piece of jacaranda that flew off the lathe yesterday....I was able to rechuck it and repair the recess in the base...(see pic 1). This time I made the recess deeper and it stayed on the chuck. I cut a small cove about 20mm up from the base to give it a little shape.

Hopefully someone on the forum can help me...I had trouble removing the little nib of timber in the centre (see pic 3). When I get into the centre to try and take it off, the gouge tends to grab and scares the living c$%p out of me, as I must be passing the centre and into the upward rotation of the timber. I have the tool rest about 6mm below centre ....it this too low or too high for bowl turning the inside. Do you use the side cutting edge or the tip to remove this bit of wood.

All hints greatfully accepted

Skot...that little nib is best handled by using a scraper. Angle the tool rest as close to the center as possible, positined down so that the cutting edge of the scraper lines up just at the nib.
Not bad for your first effort...it only gets better with time and experience:2tsup:

[Ad de Crom]

Skot, I'm fully agree with what Ed said.
Or do it like me with the cutting tip of a hollowing rig, at least If you have one. I do every hollowing job with the help of my hollowing rig, so I don't use a bowl gouge anymore.
Ad :2tsup:

[bookend]

A scraper is best suited to the job but the nib, if small, can also be levered out from below with the gouge. The trouble with this is that you can leave the opposite problem with a dimple instead of a nib. If you are careful, it's fine, depending on the depth of the bowl.

[skot]

Thanks for the replies. I used the scrapers for the bottom and with practice hopefully I can improve. I'll have to adjust the tool rest position and try the scraper on the nib on another piece.

It will be a case of Turn...Turn..Turn and the techniqes should improve. I am taking a Bowl Turning Course starting 15th January at the Queensland Woodturning Society so I should gain some hints and better techniques. I did a SPindle Course there late last year and got some great tuition. The same tutor for the Bowl Turning Course as well.

[Robomanic]

You may be able to get it with the gouge if you focus on sliding it along the rest rather than swinging through an arc. Usually you would sweep an arc down from the lip to the bottom of the bowl, but across the bottom say for the last 20mm try not to change the angle between the chisel and the bowl and kind of plane across.

Scraper works too - but that can also be well, bumpy.

[artme]

Great first effort!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Now you have had plenty of advice so the next one will be better.

[munruben]

Thats nice. I like it. :2tsup: