Measurement way off!
I went down to the shop this morning to check and see if the bowl was dry enough for a second coat. It was but in the process of handling it I thought it was
WAY too heavy for a 1/4" bottom. I mean, Maple can be heavy, especially after a couple of saturation coats of oil or poly - but this was way more than I expected.
Grabbed my measuring stick and checked the bowl and was honestly shocked to find that the bottom of the bowl was not the 1/4" as reported but it was 7/8"! What the? How in the world did that happen? Well that sure accounts for the weight!
Got to thinking about it and when using a laser point system you have to watch the dot on the wood while turning. When the dot falls off the wood - you have reached your preset distance. I had the distance loosely set for 1/4" as I knew I would lose a little wood from sanding inside the bowl as well as when I removed and sanded the tenon area. What I didn't pay attention to was my viewing angle!
With the diameter of the turning, the steep angle of the bottom of the bowl - combined with my height - I was viewing everything from a skewed angle (cause I did not want my face in the line of fire) and I stopped when I thought it was about 5/16" thick instead of having the laser dot fall off the turning. I should have stopped turning and just used the laser to take a static measure of remaining depth - which I normally do on hollow forms! Nope - I knew what I was doing! Yeah.... right!
So - now I either accept that I have a heavier than anticipated bowl or figure a way to get it centered on the vac chuck and turn it down to where it should be! Ah........ the pressure!
Vaughn - nice looking bowl! But I have to point out 2 things - you get to be the brother played by Danny Devito and mine is bigger by 1/2".
I do think your bowl has a lot of character and the contrast of the dye work with the exterior of the bowl works well!
Chuck - Jeff has turned some great looking yet seriously thick bowls!