PDA

View Full Version : A dozen blackwood bowls.



artful bodger
21st June 2019, 07:09 PM
I have a stack of blackwood blanks that were rough turned last year and have started re-turning them. Starting from the smallest and gradually working my way up.
Here are the first 12.
Four of the twelve have got the same basic shape. I have tried to get a nice crisp curve on the outside then turn the inside with an even wall thickness. With no indents or slight nipples on the centre in the bottom, just one nice flowing curve and finish it off with a half radius on the lip. I wont go into the dimensions of each individual bowl other than to say out of the twelve the largest diameter is 335mm, smallest dia 240mm and the heights vary between 60-95mm.
These first 4 have the half radius lip.

456625456626 456627456628
Top views more or less. This view shows the lip shape better,hopefully. 456630

Group shot of those type.
456629


The other eight of the twelve have got a shape that is my favourite shape. I like to think of it as my own signature shape but not sure on that, someone else might have invented that shape before me. Hard to be original in wood turning.
In profile it looks something like this. A convex and concave curve that meets at a crisp transition point between top and bottom view.
456631 Another view of the same bowl. 456632
You can see there is a definite angle between the outside and inside faces compered to the previous radius lipped bowls which I reckon is a good thing as it helps to give a better grip on the bowls when handling them. Well that's my theory and I'm sticking to it for now. If there is a downside to this shape it would be that the volume the finished bowl holds is slightly lessened. Anyway, enough of my design manifesto. Next eight pictures are the ones with this shape. All the bowls have had 2 coats of 30% gloss (in other words nearly matt) single pac spray lacquer.
456633 456634 456635

456636 456643456640
456645 456646

And finally a group shot of them all. If you have not all gone to sleep already, it is a bit of an overdose of blackwood bowls. Must say I am looking forward to getting stuck into the larger ones that are still waiting to be turned. Cheers and thanks for looking.
456647

smiife
21st June 2019, 08:11 PM
Hi AB, nice bunch of bowls mate , well done , you have been a busy boy :U
Not sure the ogee profile is new , the romans where making bowls that
way many moons ago ,,,
Very nice bowls anyway , shape , finish and great grain in the timber......:2tsup:

artful bodger
21st June 2019, 08:18 PM
Oh Gee!, guess I am ripping off the Romans then.
Hope they don't come after me with copywright lawsuits. :oo:

powderpost
21st June 2019, 08:43 PM
Lovely bowls, nice simple shapes and very well turned and finished... :2tsup:

Jim

Paul39
22nd June 2019, 12:56 AM
Artful,

Beautiful shape, figure, and finish. Well done!!

Uncle Al
22nd June 2019, 08:35 AM
Nice work there Artful. Blackwood is a stunning timber, and you are really showing off the beauty in the timber. You must have quite a pile of shavings after having all this fun!
The shape you are ending up with would probably lend itself to using a bowl saver of some sort, seems a shame to not utilize more of the timber. Having said that, I haven't tried a bowl saver, but have seen quite a few demos, must get around to having a play with one.

I like the way you have done the rim, looks very neat indeed.

Happy turnings,

Alan...

artful bodger
22nd June 2019, 09:04 AM
Hi Alan
Thanks for the comments.
With these bowls there was not that big a pile of shavings as the bowls had already been rough turned, plus it has been rather chilly down here and with my woodheater going I have been burning the shavings as I go. There was lots of shavings and blackwood juice in the rough turning process though last December.
I was considering a bowl saver when rough turning especially for the larger blanks but missed the boat for this lot of timber. I was not sure how the bowl saver would go with bowls up to 600mm dia.

clear out
22nd June 2019, 11:37 AM
Nice bowls, most turning shapes have been done before by potters over millennium.
Do you wear a respirator when turning Blackwood.
A very good mate of mine turned it for years and then suddenly acquired an extreme allergy to it.
He couldn’t even walk into his shed or his tongue would swell up etc.
I managed to pick up a racial powered air helmet for him which helped a lot.
He gave me this eucalyptus burl bowl as a thank you.
H.

artful bodger
22nd June 2019, 02:47 PM
Yes I sure do wear a respirator whenever I work with timber. I use a Sundstrom one which is a good one. I looked at a full face version the other day but did not buy it because it was really just like the regular one with eye protection which I always wear anyway.

woodtryer
22nd June 2019, 05:14 PM
Beautiful bowls artful, and I'll say it again, I love Blackwood.

Peter

brainstrust
22nd June 2019, 11:09 PM
beautiful wood, up there with my favourites. Just damn fine wood :2tsup:

Gary H
23rd June 2019, 12:01 PM
Great work, Artful. Love the timber and the shape :2tsup:. Can hear the chariots coming to serve a law suit on you. See you at the Arena :oo:

Alan, when you decide to have a play with a bowl saver, just yell - there's one here just up the road at South Caringbah.

Uncle Al
24th June 2019, 09:19 AM
[QUOTE=Gary H;2145672
Alan, when you decide to have a play with a bowl saver, just yell - there's one here just up the road at South Caringbah.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Gary, I recently acquired one, haven't had a play with it as yet. Thanks for the offer, maybe we can compare notes (experiences ) after I get it set up.

Alan...

NeilS
25th June 2019, 04:04 PM
I was not sure how the bowl saver would go with bowls up to 600mm dia.

I can get up to 18"/460mm OD bowls with the big set of McNaughton corers. If I remember correctly, the ID ends up at about 15.5", which leaves a fair bit of meat for warping. As far as I know, no corers would give you a 600mm OD bowl.

Not that we get many blanks of that size, but should you occasionally get some as big as that you could at least remove some of the centre of the blank with the McNaughton to make some smaller bowls and then turn out the remaining meat to get the largest bowl blank.

Larger bowls and platters are good for the ego, but are slow movers in the gallery. I usually have one on display to draw attention to my work and that results in more sales of my smaller pieces. So, the smaller cored blanks are the ones that are doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the funds transferred into my bank account at the end of each month...:U

artful bodger
25th June 2019, 05:54 PM
I can get up to 18"/460mm OD bowls with the big set of McNaughton corers. If I remember correctly, the ID ends up at about 15.5", which leaves a fair bit of meat for warping. As far as I know, no corers would give you a 600mm OD bowl.

Not that we get many blanks of that size, but should you occasionally get some as big as that you could at least remove some of the centre of the blank with the McNaughton to make some smaller bowls and then turn out the remaining meat to get the largest bowl blank.
Larger bowls and platters are good for the ego, but are slow movers in the gallery. I usually have one on display to draw attention to my work and that results in more sales of my smaller pieces. So, the smaller cored blanks are the ones that are doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the funds transferred into my bank account at the end of each month...:U


Thanks for the info on the larger corers Neil, guess I will have to lash out on a set next time I get a big tree to cut up.
It has been about 25 years since I had a decent crack at turning a heap of large bowls, back then they seemed to move pretty quickly but that was then. I have no idea how they will go this time around. I went and checked out all the likely galleries in town last week to see what else was on offer and there was little in the way of large bowls.