Thread: First Natural Edge Bowl

G.day 7th, If thats your first , then how good are they gunna be after you do a few dozen more? Great job.
Cheers Steven

I like the shape,shame about the cracks, what is the timber?

Have you put any finish on it, it looks a bit dry/dull.

Well done.

Yeah, the tips are heart in the mouth stuff as a beginner.

I like the shape but think that this is one case where a visible foot is too much. Personally I'd turn it away, leaving just the nice, sleek side of the bowl visible.

Nice job of keeping the bark on, too! I always seem to pick the logs that want to shed their bark when I do natural edged forms.

All in all, ya should be proud of that 'un!

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I like the shape,shame about the cracks, what is the timber?

Have you put any finish on it, it looks a bit dry/dull.

You are right, Cliff, it is a bit dull. The wood seems to soak up the finish (either oil and beeswax or Shellawax cream - I can't remember which). I need a good finish that gives me a semi-gloss - any suggestions? I have refinished soem bowls and buffed them up on the fluffy wheel and get a better gloss, but am still learning.

The timber was alleged to be poplar, but it is quite heavy and firm to work - more like elm or ash (no bark on so hard to identify). The cracks I left as another natural feature but I am about to try rough turning some natural edge bowls and will hopefully avoid the cracks.

Cheers, 7th Wood

A few coats of white shellac might stop the oil or wax from soaking away.

Doesn't like like either Elm or English Ash to me, but if the grain is very open then the Ubeaut Waxstik is an excellent stand-alone finish.

Skew, superglue is your friend for keeping bark on. Only drawback is that it darkens where it soaks in so you need a darkening finish to obscure the line.

Great bowl!!

They can only get better!

Originally Posted by rsser

Skew, superglue is your friend for keeping bark on. Only drawback is that it darkens where it soaks in so you need a darkening finish to obscure the line.

Yeah, I know. But it still works best on thin, tightly adhering barks. I like the look of naturally edged Black Wattle forms, but I've yet to successfully turn one. If it's not the bark giving me grief, it's the "natural features..."

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but Skew, how do you turn the base off a natural edge bowl? I wouldn't know how to chuck it!

Jeff

You can use a friction drive with tailstock support Jeff, or a vac chuck with a PVC tube face of 3 or 4".

Best option is to work so that you don't need to come back to the foot.

PS, as posted elsewhere, Raffan has a piece on natural edge bowl turning in the current Australian Wood Review. He uses a friction drive but withdraws the tailstock and steadies the bowl by hand to turn away the nub. Small bowls he's talking about.

Sounds very technical Ern. We'll make that lesson no 39 in the New Year (please).

As an aside, I think the Moderators need to catalogue some of these tips, somehow. The wealth of information out there needs to be captured somehow.

Jeff

Originally Posted by jefferson

Sounds very technical Ern. We'll make that lesson no 39 in the New Year (please).

As an aside, I think the Moderators need to catalogue some of these tips, somehow. The wealth of information out there needs to be captured somehow.

Jeff

Are you volunteering Jeff?

Seriously, what I do with this sort of material is click on Thread Tools, Show Printable Version and the print it to a pdf file and file it on the computer under the relevant folder.

Of course "Search" will also find it again, but that relies on your memory!

Good tip Fred. Thanks.

Another option is for folk to make a wiki entry here.

'Search' is a bit hit and miss on this forum. I prefer to use Google - Advanced Search, limit the search to the forum's URL.

Neil used to have a Google search box showing on each page ... dunno what happened to it.

And of course, a related way in is with the list of similar threads shown at the bottom of each thread page.

Sorry to hijack your thread 7th Wood.

7th Wood,
Very well done natural edge bowl
The wood does not appear to be Poplar, but maybe your version of it is different than ours(?).