My First Bowl

Les Elm

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1,434
Location
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
That I did a few months back. Manitoba Maple that has been drying for 3 years. 7" in diameter and 2-1/2" deep. Used my 3/4" roughing gouge and 1/4" round nose scraper.

While I still had in the chuck I sanded to 400 grit, applied 2 coats of Minwax Gloss Wipe On Poly, rubbed down with super fine steel wool between coats, applied 6 coats of Minwax Satin Wipe On Ploy and polished with Hut Ultra Gloss.

Made a doughnut chuck and removed the tenon to make a foot and finished the foot with Minwax Satin Wipe On Poly.

I might have to go a buy the proper chisels for bowl turning to see if future bowls will be easier to turn and and finish better.

As always question, comments and or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks for looking.
 

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For a first and not having a bowl gouge, you really did a great job. Noting wrong with the round nose scraper. Many of the top names turn bowls with round scrapers. A bowl goug will make it a bit more fun though. Beautifully done.
 
Well done Les.... I did my first couple of bowls the same way... it is easier with a bowl gouge, but a true craftsman gets the job done with what he has to work with... looking forward to future projects.
 
Fantastic looking!

I have one question, and to me it seems like a dumb one, but I'm a big believer in the only dumb ones are the ones never asked...what in the world keeps the blank attached to the chuck while you are pushing on it to scrape it out? For some reason, and maybe cause I've been at work all night, I just can't wrap my head around it.
 
Mike,
First, I have to agree, the dumbest questions are always the ones not asked.. has always been my life philosophy too.

In the first picture you can see the tenon he used to attached the bowl to the chuck... if you sharpen a round nose scraper and leave a little burr on it, it cuts pretty easily and doesn't need too much pressure.... actually works pretty much same as with a bowl gough.... after he's done the inside, he reversed it in the do-nut chuck and cut the tenon away.
 
Hi Mike,

Before hollowing a bowl blank I generally make a tenon or a recess on the bottom of the bowl when I am shaping the outside and then turn it round and use a scrolling chuck to either grab the tenon with the chuck jaws or expand the jaws into the recess. Some people use glue blocks attached to the bowl blank to hollow and then a jam chuck to do the outside. There are a number of different options but I think those are the most basic.

Brendan

Edit: LOL, Chuck beat me to it.
 
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