Out Back Bowl

[Tony Morton]

Just thought I'd show this bowl I made during the Hastings Woodworkers Show at the Panthers Club in Port Macquarie recently. The coolibah burl weighed 40 kg and had a clear area of 600 mills diameter. There was also the large void area in the face of the burl. the burl was cut to size with chain saw then mounted on the lathe on a ply faceplate mounted on the 120 vicnarc chuck with the tail stock up I then spent quite a bit of time reducing the thickness on one side of the blank to try and get some ballance this was done with electric plane. because of the out of ballance 20 rpm was the turning speed.

The out side turned and rough sanded I turned a spiggot inside of the foot of the bowl 120mm to suit the large jaws for the vicmarc and proceded to hollow the centre, before starting however I applied 3 rounds of gaffer tape as insurance as there were some nasty cracks. because of the natural edges on the out side and the void on the inside I was unable to get any response from a scraper of anysort in fact had one huge digin frightenet hell out of Artisan who was turning on the next lathe. to get a nice curve on the interia i ended up breaking through on one of the natural surfaces on the side of bowl. The voids and larger cracks were filled with west system and powdered brass then, power sanding and finishing to 600 grit. I then fastened some blocks to the face plate and turned them into a jam chuck and with the tail stock up and the gaffer tape holding the bowl to the faceplate/jam chuck I turned the inner part of the foot and finished the bottom. the finish is a combination of Howard products several coats of Orange oil then feed an wax then finally orange tung furnaiture protection.
The name Out Back Bowl as it suggests the Australian Outback from 30,000 feet the roughburl paterns the rocky hills the smoother lighter colour areas the desert areas and the filled cracks the sun shining on our recent desert rainfall hope you like it.

Cheers Tony

[orificiam]

Like It? Love it mate,Congratulation Tony that's a beautiful bowl
Cheers Tony.

[Mobil Man]

It came out real nice. You are so lucky to have such beautiful wood availabke without having to pay an arm and leg for it.

[Claw Hama]

Very nice, I've done quite a few smaller coolibah burls the biggest was only about 300mm dia that was enough fun with it clunking around. Well done.

[Tony Morton]

Thanks for the comments talk about right price it was 40 Kg cost me twenty dollars because it hadn't sold for so long and he wanted to get rid of it the hole in centre put people off I had looked at it 2 years ago but couldnt see much in it but a lot of waste as you cut small blanks around edge, I think $20 well spent i got nearly three days turning from the blank.

Cheers Tony

[joevan]

Hello Tony

A very difficult job very well executed. Great result. Like the previous commenter, there are many types of wood that are easier to turn. My recent effort (coolabah as well) was ony 280 mm wide and 70 mm deep.
BR Joe v K.

[Nai84]

WOW nice piece I love it really nice work mate well done

Ian