A Laurel Bowl..... How I use the Vacuum Chuck

Stuart Ablett

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15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
I had this chunk of Laurel that I got from my arborist buddy, I did not know what the wood was, as he told me the Japanese name, so he grabbed some leaves from the tree, and held them to his head and said "Olympics" :D :thumb:

Ok, that worked, I then knew it was Laurel :)

I rough turned some and DNAed it, wrapped it up and forgot about it.

In March of this year, my local turning club had a workshop, I took a roughed out blank to the workshop to possibly turn. At this meeting, we had a visitor, Jim, from the US, he is a very good bowl turner, and he was giving the Ci1 tool a try on the outside of this bowl blank. He thought the wood was worthwhile and suggested that I keep it and finish it when I got some time, well I got some time today :thumb:

I also wanted to show how I use my vacuum chuck for the bowls.

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The bowl is finished turned inside and out, as well as sanded to #400, except for the very bottom outside. You can see the thread adapter on the nose of the Oneway live center to the right, this will hold the chuck.....

laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_2.jpg
The chuck and bowl attached to the Oneway live center, yes the weight of the bowl and chuck on the live center causes it to sag slightly, but I found a solution for this......

laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_3.jpg
I leave the tailstock loose, not tightened to the ways, and I slowly advance the tailstock until the bowl just about touches the vacuum chuck, I then run the lathe on slow speed, maybe 150rpm, I then feed the chuck/bowl into the vacuum chuck. I've found that it usually runs very true using this method.

laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_4.jpg laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_5.jpg
With the vacuum chuck holding the bowl blank, I bring up the tailstock for extra support, and I nibble away at the bottom of the bowls.


laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_6.jpg laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_7.jpg
Next up I sand it more to blend the sanded and unsanded areas.

laurel_bowl_vac_chuck_8.jpg
And this is the results, not bad, I think :D :dunno:
 
I haven't tried running the bowl into the vacuum chuck while the chuck is spinning. I'll have to give that a whirl and see how it works for me.
 
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