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Oak Bowl

steve ramsey

steve ramsey

Member
Messages
478
Location
Lafayette, IN
This is my first successful large bowl. First 3 attempts with heavily checked ash blew up.
Dimensions 9 5/8" dia. 4 5/8" oah. 4 3/8" ih. 7 1/4" inside lip. Finished with homemade paste of mineral oil, bees wax & diatamatious earth.0118201721.jpg0118201722.jpg0118201723.jpg0118201723a.jpg0118201723b.jpg0118201723c.jpg0118201724.jpg
 
Excellent looking bowl! I'm curious about the DE as well. Don't remember hearing it being used like this. Is that red oak? Nice way the grain patterns run on it. I never had any luck with ash so I sympathize with your problems with it.
 
Ted Calver said:
Well done, Steve. Looks like that diatomaceous earth does a pretty good job removing sanding marks. Have you used it for long?
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First time I used it, Just made it this last week. Was not happy with the way the DE dispersed in the mix, it stayed lumpy, but I'm happy with the finish. Bowl was sanded to 400 inside & out before applying the finish.
 
Dave Hoskins said:
Excellent looking bowl! I'm curious about the DE as well. Don't remember hearing it being used like this. Is that red oak? Nice way the grain patterns run on it. I never had any luck with ash so I sympathize with your problems with it.
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I got the ash from my son when a tree blew down. The ash borers have just decimated the ash trees in this part of the country which is just a shame. There are 1,000's of dead ash trees standing waiting to go down. What my son gave me was dry, brittle & badly checked. These pieces probably shouldn't have been mounted but I couldn't resist. Had a catch in the final stage of turning and each one came apart. One was an eye opener, glad my head wasn't in the way. Don't need any more sense knocked into it.
 
steve ramsey said:
First time I used it, Just made it this last week. Was not happy with the way the DE dispersed in the mix, it stayed lumpy, but I'm happy with the finish. Bowl was sanded to 400 inside & out before applying the finish.
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Steve, you have to stir constantly while the mixture cools or the DE will settle to the bottom... I cook mine until the wax has melted then mix in the DE and stir for the next 30 minutes or so while it cools... it should be about the consistency of relatively thin peanut butter when it has cooled... I really like the stuff and use it all the time now... but I still finish my bowls and pepper mills with a couple of coats of Old Master's Sanding Sealer and then 3 or 4 coats of wipe on polyurethane... it takes longer for me to finish as bowl than it does to turn it... I turn a bowl in an hour or so and then spend a week doing the finish.

Good looking bowl... I like the design.
 
I followed the same process. When I added the DE it clumped up and I couldn't get it to separate completely. Used a scrap piece of wood about 1/4 x 1 for stirring. Clumps aren't that bad about half the size of a bb.

On your finish are you applying it on or off the lathe. I'm assuming off with the number of coats.
 
The bowl looks real nice, Steve. :thumb: Like many turners (including me), you opted to try a difficult form for your first big bowl. The undercut rim is not easy, even for an experienced bowl turner.

I've had better luck turning ash than oak, but if the ash is checked, all bets are off. :)
 
steve ramsey said:
I followed the same process. When I added the DE it clumped up and I couldn't get it to separate completely. Used a scrap piece of wood about 1/4 x 1 for stirring. Clumps aren't that bad about half the size of a bb.

On your finish are you applying it on or off the lathe. I'm assuming off with the number of coats.
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Yes, off the lathe... I put the abrasive past on while the lathe is turning, then do the rest off the lathe.
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
The bowl looks real nice, Steve. :thumb: Like many turners (including me), you opted to try a difficult form for your first big bowl. The undercut rim is not easy, even for an experienced bowl turner.

I've had better luck turning ash than oak, but if the ash is checked, all bets are off. :)
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Didn't set out to turn this shape it was what the piece gave me. The bottom gave me more trouble than the undercut rim. I kept having catches in the bottom due to the distance of the work surface to the tool rest. Tried an S shaped rest but there is something I don't understand yet about the angle of the scraper to the work surface as I move along the curve of the rest.
I learned to walk so I think I can figure this out. Thanks for the comment.
 
Looking good, Steve. :thumb: The flat bottom in the 9" bowl is another tough one to do. (But I'll bet you know that now.) ;)
 
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