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Christos
23rd April 2015, 01:35 PM
This piece I made a little while ago but was not happy with the finish. It felt a bit rough to the touch. So I took it back to the garage and sanded it back to bear wood using the drill press with a disc mounted sanding pad. Went through the grits up to 320 I did do some hand sanding between grits of the drill press. I think I spent 1 hour sanding this little piece. :B But like I said I was not happy with the finish as it just felt rough.


The intention was to make a natural edge bowl. The bark was a little thicker originally and a bit soft at places so I used a sharp knife to get it down a little to where it was not as soft.

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I think the shape of the bowl should have been a little more steeper in relation to the sides. If I did that then I would have loss one of the natural edges and instead of a bowl I would have made a scoop. :U This all comes to how I originally mounted this in the lathe. If I spent a few minutes to think about what I wanted I might have been able to rotate it a little to get some symmetry in the piece. Then again I was dealing with the pith and the cracks that come from this.

I guess you might be able to tell that I am not entirely happy with this piece. I will say this about this piece it is more a practical piece then an artistic piece.

All comments and criticism are welcome.

mick59wests
23rd April 2015, 08:14 PM
Christos,

how did you manage to shape the bottom of the bowl? Any natural edge bowl I do ends up with the chuck shape somewhat incorporated into the bottom.

thanks

Mick

Christos
23rd April 2015, 11:43 PM
...how did you manage to shape the bottom of the bowl? Any natural edge bowl I do ends up with the chuck shape somewhat incorporated into the bottom....

As this was not a very big branch and I still had the pith to deal with I ended up making a tenon to hold in the chuck. After shaping the bowl I used a parting tool to get under the bowl. I finished the curving underside using a bowl gouge and once that was done I finish parting this off with the parting tool. I was left with a tiny bit holding the bowl about 20 - 25 mm, then cut that off with a hand saw. The little bit on the bottom I took off with a chisel. As the parting tool can sometimes leave a less than smooth surface I used a sanding pad in the drill press to smooth out the bottom.

One of the most important things to note is to not sand the edge of the bottom of the bowl. After all it is what will ensure the bowl is flat.

I should also mention that there are other way that this can be held, but this is what works for me.

mick59wests
24th April 2015, 09:38 AM
As this was not a very big branch and I still had the pith to deal with I ended up making a tenon to hold in the chuck. After shaping the bowl I used a parting tool to get under the bowl. I finished the curving underside using a bowl gouge and once that was done I finish parting this off with the parting tool. I was left with a tiny bit holding the bowl about 20 - 25 mm, then cut that off with a hand saw. The little bit on the bottom I took off with a chisel. As the parting tool can sometimes leave a less than smooth surface I used a sanding pad in the drill press to smooth out the bottom.

One of the most important things to note is to not sand the edge of the bottom of the bowl. After all it is what will ensure the bowl is flat.

I should also mention that there are other way that this can be held, but this is what works for me.
Christos,
thanks for the above. From my reading of this, at some point you were using the parting tool between the chuck and the bowl (ie: under the bowl) until you got to around 20-25mm. Is that right?
thanks
Mick

Christos
29th April 2015, 06:17 PM
.... From my reading of this, at some point you were using the parting tool between the chuck and the bowl (ie: under the bowl) until you got to around 20-25mm. Is that right?.....

That's right.

mick59wests
30th April 2015, 03:07 PM
That's right.
Thanks again. I have never tried that method.
cheers
Mick