Natural Edge bowl warp

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Hi, a few months ago I rough turned my first two natural edge bowls from a chunk of maple. I did what I normally do and left the walls about 1" thick while it dried over a couple months.

When I went to get the bowls to finish them, I noticed they had warped an extreme amount along the "length" ... so they are now oval shaped. I put one on the lathe and it had warped so much that I couldn't even get it back to round without completely chewing away the two "long sides". They were down to about 1/4" and I still had barely hit the other two sides.

Is this normal for natural edge bowls? Should I be roughing and finishing them all in one session? Even with the extreme warp, there are no cracks at all. I really don't want to do any more until I find out the strategy I should be using as it appears to be different the other standard bowls I've done in the past.
 
Dawson,

NEs are the one bowl that I turn to finished size in one session. Then if it warps....it adds to the mystique and beauty IMHO.
 
Most of the NE bowls I've turned were done wet, and re-turned after drying. So far I've been lucky and none of my big ones have warped so bad I couldn't re-turn them round. I have had a couple smaller ones that warped quite a bit though, and by the time I got them round again, the wall thickness was down to about 1/16" or so at the rim.
 
I can't attest to the truth, but I've heard that if you turn bowls from limb vs trunk wood you can get more extreme warping... seems the story goes that limbs have a different stress in the woods from the way they grew than do trunks... I have very poor luck doing NE bowls, so have done only a very few.
 
It depends on how wet the wood is. I copy Vaughn if the wood is sopping wet...rough turn, let dry, finish turn. If the chunk has been sitting a year or more, I'll usually finish turn in one session...unless it is still sopping wet inside.:thumb:


Dawson,

NEs are the one bowl that I turn to finished size in one session. Then if it warps....it adds to the mystique and beauty IMHO.

I can't remember seeing any of your NE bowls Ken...got a link to some pics??
 
I used to do that Rich but now I turn them to finish generally 1/4" or less in wall thickness. As soon as I get the bottom finished I soak it immediately with Antique Oil. It has done wonders in controlling the cracking and warping.
 
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