The "clean up" continues?

**powderpost** · 3rd October 2016, 06:07 PM

This morning I got the urge to do some more "cleaning up", again that did not get very far. I re-discovered a slab of maple that JohnG, from the milling forum, had dropped in some time back. There was a patch of quilting on on end that begged to be turned. Who am I to refuse a beggar??? Many turners depend on chucks as if they were indispensable, so I thought a W.I.P. of how I often turn a bowl, especially if I have a particular shape and/or proportion in mind. I like o make the foot approximately half the diameter of the bowl, and not be dictated to by a chuck manufacturer. This project was done with two standard face plates, with a little fore thought and planning, it could be done with only one face plate. More about that later.

To start with I have screwed the face plate onto what will be the top of the bowl.

DSCN1646.JPG DSCN1647S.jpg

The piece is mounted and the diameter for the foot is marked. A waste block will be turned to suit this later. Now it is turned roughly to the shape I am after. You can, if you like' prepare card board templates for the outside and inside profiles. This is a simple shape and I don't feel the need for templates.
DSCN1648S.jpg DSCN1650S.jpg

Sometimes, when turning the inside, a hole appears in the bottom. Ooops. Making templates can avoid this small difficulty. When I get to shaping the back, I will use a straight edge across the bottom to check that the foot is flat for gluing and that the centre of the bottom is below the level of the foot. Nothing worse than a bowl that rocks on the table when it is not supposed to. I also make the outside profile flow right around so that if I removed the foot, the curve would flow nicely right through, as seen by the profile gauge, again a template would be just as good.
DSCN1651S.jpg DSCN1652S.jpg

Here is the waste block mounted on a second face plate, already glued. with the bowl mounted in the tail stock. I am using a tail stock threaded centre here.
DSCN1654S.jpg DSCN1656S.jpg

The two pieces glued up in the lathe.
DSCN1657S.jpg

As mentioned before, I could have done this with one face plate. To do this, remove the face plate from the half turned bowl and fix it to what will be the waste block. Turn the waste block to exactly the same diameter as the foot of the bowl. Then apply glue and bring up the tail stock, minus the centre, and apply pressure until the glue has set.

I now have to wait for the glue to set, so that's all for today, more tomorrow. Feel free to ask questions.

Jim

**John.G** · 3rd October 2016, 06:29 PM

Clean up huh? I scored some offcuts of African Ironwood the other day, nothing fancy but good sizes for intarsia type work.

My question is do you want some, now that you got more room?

(Its an evil.question ain't it, but I'd hate to toss the stuff knowing a mate had space to fit it)

**Xanthorrhoeas** · 3rd October 2016, 06:50 PM

Lovely piece of Queensland Maple from John and an interesting read. It looks like it will be a stunning bowl.

I have just set out on the turning journey - making bowls and platters in a course with Rob McKee at the Woodturners Society here in Brisbane. So far have used the faceplate followed by the chuck but this week we start with making a thinner plate by gluing on a waste block. Do you use a piece of paper in between to make the join easier to see and to separate later or do you remove more of the foot so don't need the line?

David

**Rod Gilbert** · 3rd October 2016, 08:15 PM

Just to help you out next time you need a clean out give me a call and I'll take care of it for you get rid of all you're rubbish timber like this

.
Simple shapes always show of stunning grain like this very well great job again Jim.
Regards Rod.

**powderpost** · 3rd October 2016, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by John.G

Clean up huh? I scored some offcuts of African Ironwood the other day, nothing fancy but good sizes for intarsia type work.

My question is do you want some, now that you got more room?

(Its an evil.question ain't it, but I'd hate to toss the stuff knowing a mate had space to fit it)

Yes.....

Jim

**powderpost** · 3rd October 2016, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

Do you use a piece of paper in between to make the join easier to see and to separate later or do you remove more of the foot so don't need the line?

David

Thanks David, no I don't put paper in the glue joint. Some time back I turned what I thought was a nice bowl, during the turning the glue joint failed and I lost the bowl, it had had paper in the joint. I have never used a paper joint since then. Look carefully at the waste block in the W.I.P., you will notice it has a fairly big recess in the centre, that reduces the glued surface area. To separate the bowl, I cut the bowl off with a handsaw buy cutting through the waste block. More details about that in the next part of the W.I.P.

Jim

**hughie** · 3rd October 2016, 08:44 PM

you will notice it has a fairly big recess in the centre, that reduces the glued surface area. To separate the bowl, I cut the bowl off with a handsaw buy cutting through the waste block. More details about that in the next part of the W.I.P.

its a darn good idea that I use often.

**smiife** · 4th October 2016, 07:33 PM

Hi jim,
Very interesting wip , couldn, t you just put
It on a chuck in photo 7 ...?

**powderpost** · 4th October 2016, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by smiife

Hi jim,
Very interesting wip , couldn, t you just put
It on a chuck in photo 7 ...?

Hi Smiife, I am showing that it is not essential to use a chuck to make a bowl. Yes, you are right, a chuck could be used. I do use chucks but I find them a bit restricting sometimes. The advantage, I suppose, is that you don't have to wait for glue to dry. The disadvantage of chucks, is the cost and the need to buy more jaws, then to buy another to save having to change jaws. Each to his own.

Jim

**Picko** · 4th October 2016, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by smiife

Hi jim,
Very interesting wip , couldn, t you just put
It on a chuck in photo 7 ...?

Any excuse to use some glue me thinks.

**powderpost** · 4th October 2016, 09:50 PM

The glue has set, the face plate removed and ready to turn the top.
DSCN1685.JPG

Checking to see if the wall thickness is uniform.
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Wall thickness reduced to 10mm
DSCN1687.JPG

Sanded ready to cut off
DSCN1688.JPG

I have cut a narrow groove into the waste block, but will complete the cut with a hand saw while the bowl is stationary. It is not pleasant to see your masterpiece take off at speed and become another "oooops, oh dear, or something similar". I had a segmented bowl that had taken four weeks to complete, disintegrate in a flash. I was not happy. It is a good idea to put something on the lathe bed so that if the bowl separates unexpectedly, it won't get marked by falling onto the bed.
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Some of the waste block can be seen on the foot of the bowl.

DSCN1690.JPG

At this stage, the remnants of the waste block can be removed with a hand plane or a sanding disc. I prefer to finish off the bottom nicely. To do this I fix the bowl to a mounting plate. The mounting plate is an almost round, "disc" of 19mm ply. The bowl is centered by measuring the diameter and making a pencil line on the mounting plate to that diameter. Wooden "clamps" are screwed to the mounting plate to hold the bowl on place. Check that the bowl is running true. Now the foot can be reshaped and detailed to your satisfaction.
DSCN1691.JPG DSCN1692.JPG

The bowl sanded and ready to polish

DSCN1693.JPG

The back finished to my satisfaction
DSCN1694.JPG

Again, the purpose here was to point out that is not essential to spend money on chucks. I like the freedom of design that this system gives me. I am not against the use of chucks, at the last count I have 14 of them, some quite old and not available now.

The bowl will be polished soon and a photo posted.

Hopefully this W.I.P. has been helpful.

Jim

**Nanigai** · 4th October 2016, 10:42 PM

Thanks Jim, especially liked the info on the waste block and not using a paper joint.
Might well save me the experience of finding out the hard way why you no longer use it.

Cheers mate, Ian

**Paul39** · 5th October 2016, 02:26 AM

Powderpost,

Very nice instruction. Thank you.

**powderpost** · 5th October 2016, 08:52 PM

As promised, the finished bowl. I have left a low sheen surface for the benefit of photographing, to reduce light reflection.

Jim

DSCN1695.JPG DSCN1696.jpg

**John.G** · 5th October 2016, 09:42 PM

Thank you for the pictures. I always get a kick out of the " knew it when it was a tree" thing so I really appreciate them. It did not die in vain.

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The "clean up" continues?

Beautiful timber and interesting technique

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