My first bowl

Keith Palmer

Member
Messages
84
Location
Tacoma, WA
Hello all! I just finished my first bowl!

I found your group just last week and joined. So here is my first post.


I joined my local AAW club in April and in August the president invited
members to join him on a one on one basis to turn some evening.

So I finally tried my hand at a bowl. His favorite material is Monkey
Puzzle so he mounted a 16" diameter piece on his lathe and I got lots
of practice while turning it to fit on my 12" lathe.

I finished turning it to 8.5" diameter 4" tall and a wall thickness of
3/16". It has 8 coats of gloss polyurethane.

Comments greatly welcomed.

Keith
Pacific Northwest
 

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#101? you sure that's your first bowl? Looks like you're a natural from this angle... but what do I know? Nice job!


Welcome aboard, just spotted that this is your first post as well as your first bowl. Can't wait to see more!
 
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Welcome to the clubhouse, Keith. :wave: Glad to have another turner in the midst.

You may be new to turning bowls, but you've obviously been paying attention to what you've seen. The form looks superb. :clap: The curve is excellent. :thumb:
 
#101? you sure that's your first bowl? Looks like you're a natural from this angle... but what do I know? Nice job!


Welcome aboard, just spotted that this is your first post as well as your first bowl. Can't wait to see more!
Thanks!

You don't just start with #1, just like checks. If anyone still uses them anymore.

Keith
 
Really nice looking bowl. Are you afraid that it will crack at the bottom with the pith still there?
Jon,

The president of my local club turns these all the time with the pith. Monkey puzzle is one of the few you can do this. It is a member of the same family as Norfolk Island Pine which is quite stable.

Before final cuts and sanding I removed the chuck and bowl and set it down on the bench and saturated the pith with thin CA. While doing this I did find a hairline crack .5" long from the pith, so I glued it as well. It has been this way for over a month now while I put the finish on and no problems so far.

Keith
 
Chuck,

I used the regular kind that you would normally brush on. But I wiped it on saturating the piece, then wiping the excess of with another cloth. I did this since the brush on is cheaper than the wipe-on and the wipe-on is just regular stuff thinned down.

This also means there are more solids in each coat rather than solvent.
 
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I do not post much but that bowl is excellent to say the least. The finish shows that you must be an experienced wood worker. I can’t wait to see what to see some of your other projects. What were you turning before this? Let’s see some of your other turnings.
Excellent job
 
Awesome bowl and finish!

I'm still trying to git the whole bowl thing down.

My only bowl so far has a wall thickness of like an inch, and all it's good for is holding my polishing compounds!
 
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