Thread: A couple of resin hybrid bowls.

Absolutely beautiful....Jerry (in Tucson)USA

Your casting looks good, have you done much casting previously. What setup are you using for the pressure pot. If the red bowl were mine I would try rubbing it with some fine steel wool (0000) and then polish with EEE. That may get rid of the orange peel on the lacquer.

Originally Posted by tony_A

Your casting looks good, have you done much casting previously. What setup are you using for the pressure pot. If the red bowl were mine I would try rubbing it with some fine steel wool (0000) and then polish with EEE. That may get rid of the orange peel on the lacquer.

Thanks Tony. I'll give the steel wool and EEE method a try - sounds better than putting it back on the lathe and then having to worry about cleaning up the bottom again after removing the glue block.

I have a converted paint pot that I am using for pressure pot as well as a vacuum pot and single stage vac pump from eBay for stabilizing with cactus juice when needed. There's a decent size compressor and receiver in the corner of my shed courtesy of my days in the mining game. I haven't done a lot of casting yet - mostly making pen blanks and small boxes (pen cases) using a mixture of coloured resin and either scrap pieces of attractive looking timber such as sandalwood and olive, or slices of "burl" sourced locally.

At the moment, I'm playing around with various ideas to see what I can come up with that is a bit "different". Getting hold of some of the raw materials (pine cones, banksia pods etc) is not easy as I have to travel a few hundred km to collect them, but we do have some very nice timber available locally, and I love going out bush with the 4WD and a chainsaw to see what I can find.

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Originally Posted by Nubsnstubs

Absolutely beautiful....Jerry (in Tucson)USA

Thanks Jerry.

They look first class well done.

Originally Posted by BMKal

Thanks Tony. I'll give the steel wool and EEE method a try - sounds better than putting it back on the lathe and then having to worry about cleaning up the bottom again after removing the glue block.


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On remounting your stuff, it looks like you are using recesses. For remounting and dressing up the outside, it seems to me there would be no issue. If you aren't using recesses, make yourself a large chuck mounted face plate the maximum size to match your swing. I use 2 -3 pieces of MDF for this as I plan to use it more than once after this endeavor. Make a groove in the face plate to match the rim OD. Make a small block to fit your live center that will fit inside the bowl foot. The groove you make should be centered, so you don't have to do too much trying to find center.
You could also do this for the inside since you have what looks like a foot. With the live center block and this "Rim Chuck", you should be able to do what ever cleanup necessary to make these pieces spectacular. ............. Jerry (in Tucson)USA

Originally Posted by Nubsnstubs

On remounting your stuff, it looks like you are using recesses. For remounting and dressing up the outside, it seems to me there would be no issue. If you aren't using recesses, make yourself a large chuck mounted face plate the maximum size to match your swing. I use 2 -3 pieces of MDF for this as I plan to use it more than once after this endeavor. Make a groove in the face plate to match the rim OD. Make a small block to fit your live center that will fit inside the bowl foot. The groove you make should be centered, so you don't have to do too much trying to find center.
You could also do this for the inside since you have what looks like a foot. With the live center block and this "Rim Chuck", you should be able to do what ever cleanup necessary to make these pieces spectacular. ............. Jerry (in Tucson)USA

Thanks Jerry. I'll give this a try. I also have a set of "Cole Jaw" attachments that do not fit my chuck - I have been planning to drill these to match the jaw mounts on my chuck so that I can use them. If successful, these will work on most of the bowls I turn, though they will still not be big enough for the larger platters. Your suggestion sounds like it would work well with the platters that I turn occasionally.

Originally Posted by BMKal

Thanks Jerry. I'll give this a try. I also have a set of "Cole Jaw" attachments that do not fit my chuck - I have been planning to drill these to match the jaw mounts on my chuck so that I can use them. If successful, these will work on most of the bowls I turn, though they will still not be big enough for the larger platters. Your suggestion sounds like it would work well with the platters that I turn occasionally.

Those Cole Jaws and the other one like it was on my list to make, but with a Donut chuck I made earlier, I hit my knuckles on the hold down bolts. I counter sunk the bolt heads, and then about 2 pieces later, the Donut Chuck exploded, put a 9" gash on my side as I was trying to shut down the lathe. Decided I didn't need that, so went further by using a live center with a pair of wheels attached to a threaded ring to hold my stuff.

After making 17 Live Center Steady's, I had an epiphany. The cost of the live center would need to be near the 6 hundred dollar mark, and I would starve trying to sell them, so made a design change to what you see in the link. Wood Turning Tools | Tucson | WoodTurners WorkHolding Solutions

Here is what I use to remove tenons. I got my Patent for it back in 2016. I call it a Tail Stock Steady. Since I started using it in 2012, I lost 3 pieces in the first week because of not being familiar with it. Since then over 1200 pieces have been done without a loss. Making finials in the bottom of my footed bowls is a piece of cake, and on the flat ones, it's just a few beads, but am able to do this without any effort at all. I can also turn a piece, any type of form, safely between centers from start to finish. Just did one recently. Will post a thread later today after I get pictures of it.

I believe there are 2 of these in Australia. If the owners of them see this, then they can chime in. ............. Jerry (in Tucson)USA

loving the green one, friggin awesome