First venture into bowls

Evening Everyone,

Santa bought me a Robert Sorby Turnmaster with Carbide tips so decided time was right to have a go at some bowls.Attachment 447968Attachment 447967Attachment 447966
This is bowl number 1 and is a piece of mango branch that I had laying around to practice cove and beads on. I ended turning it end grain for no other reason than that was how it was chucked for the other practice. It was a longer piece so I did the internal work first, then the outside then parted it off the remaning piece after sanding and applying finish. As a first attempt at bowl turning I was fairly pleased with the result.
Bowl number 2 was complete with only the tenon to trim off so I turned a scrap piece to use in jam chuck mode. Tailstock center was in middle of tenon and I was slowly paring the tenon down when the remaining tenon sheared off releasing the bowl doing 1000 rpm to rattle back and forth between headstock and tailstock. An attempt to remove the knocks and gouges was not successful so it became decorative firewood.
Bowl 3
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Having learnt my lesson, I turned this bowl by screwing to a face plate and doing the bottom before making a dovetail recess for the chuck. Applied finish to bottom then set up in chuck to do the inside. I have since learnt that this is a piece of white cedar. I love the way it changes colour as you move it around in the light. The new tool got a good workout as the blank was square and the front and back were very unparallel. Took 2 hours to flatten one side and get it round. Finish is BLO and shellac mixed with metho. About to order some EEE and shellawax. Left the dovetail recess so I can play with this one.
Interesting learning curve on these and happy with how they turned out.
Regards,
Mac

You have learned quickly. Bowl 3 is lovely, nice shape, nice finish.

Hi mac , it, s amazing how quickly you can learn by your mistakes , well done !:2tsup:

Nicely done. :)

Just out of curiosity - I'd like a first-timers perspective - did you notice any difference with the way bowl #1 and bowls #2 & 3 hollowed out?

Or were you already aware that you should "work downhill from the grain" and actually cut #1 backwards to the others? (ie. cut from centre outwards rather than rim inwards)

Hi Skew,

Interesting question. Bowl #1 I just dug in working both in toward the center and out away. I did find it hard to get a smooth curve in the shape. I don't own a decent curved scraper so had difficulty removing tool marks and the inside still feels a bit furry. For bowls2&3 I used a frostner drill bit to open up the centre and worked out from there. I still am very naive when it comes to the effects of grain on these bowl turnings. I have seen tear out and generally manage to clean up with sharp tools and sanding. Bowl 2 and 3 were easier to turn once I got them round and flat and shaping was a lot quicker.