how to tell youre a beginner.

allen levine

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new york city burbs
Nothing like a good dose of reality hitting you hard, real hard.
5 years ago, at a woodworking show in Saratoga springs NY, I saw a candy dish/square bowl turned by Don Orr.
I thought it was a beautiful piece of work, and I asked him if I could purchase it for my wife.(she was not with me, but I knew she would have loved it, and she did, from the pictures I took)
Don said he couldn't sell it to me.
Maybe he thought I was asking for a discount, which I wasn't, I expect to pay for talent.

So back I went to try to turn anything close, remotely close to a don orr square turned piece.

And in the end, Ive done nothing more than create another piece of kindling for the fireplace.

Although this time, I believe I got a little bit closer to the final shape I wanted, but realize I need to start with a thicker piece and glue a block onto the dish to hold it on the lathe, not drill a hole and attach with expanded chuck, give me more depth.
I had to fill in a tiny hole since I went to deep, but, eh........youre killing me don, I don't have enough years left to get close to what you created.
heres my feeble attempt , I used some block of Spanish cedar. upside down pic without any finish, (I only applied finish instead of tossing it because I know my daughter will put it on a table and use it for keys or something, she gets mad if I toss anything I make)

that's don's dish on the right.

nobody better be laughing, Im not ashamed to admit Im 3 lightyears away from showing any bowl turning talent.

I think when the finish is dry tomorrow, IM going to attempt to take out more of the center to get closer to the look, probably blow up the piece, but its worth the try, as I look at what I can do to improve it.
 

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Haven't been brave enough to try one of those knuckle busters yet :). Looks pretty good to me for a first round, I usually figure I'll have to make a solid dozen of anything before it gets to just the mildly embarrassing stage.
 
Allen,
If the first and second pictures are your bowl, you have nothing to worry about... I've been turning almost 15 years and I tell most people that it took me 5 of those years to learn to turn a bowl... I still haven't tried a square bowl yet... I did set one up to do earlier this week, but broke my band saw in the middle of squaring up the blank... so now it's on a faceplate with one side having a cut half way through it... just got the new part this morning in the mail, so will try to finish this coming week.... I still count myself as a beginner.
 
when I got back from lunch(its nice being retired, I can pick up my wife every day and go to lunch with her), I went back and looked at dons bowl again, and rechecked my poor attempt, this time concentrating on hollowing out the out portion of the inside, to get the "wings" on the side to look more curved and higher.
Sand paper is a friend, and I was able to get the dish to a curvier shape as I desired. My next attempt will be a deeper dish.

I got my cole jaw set for the super nova chuck. I believe it will make it much easier for me to finish and sand the outside of the bowls.

Im currently working on both bowls I got from larry, I let them move and dry for the past however many months.

The bigger one is still kind of cruddy, but Ill see how it turns out.

to refresh, the bottom of the bowl where I had it chucked cracked apart. I drilled a 2 and 1/8th hole in the bottom(I think Vaughn mentioned drill, not turn a hole), it made it less depth for finished bowl, but it chucked up nicely. I just used my orbital to smooth out the cracked out bottom almost to the new hole so no problem mounting it.
Im pretty new at this, so that was the easiest solution for me.




What I can say about turning, is that time flies when you turn. You lose track when youre working on a lathe, not like flat work.

I got a little more curviness in the shape, first coat now of waterlox.(I have some left over from last project, and this is where Ill finish it off)
this is the first piece I will sign and date. as you can see, its in my hey, Im a woodturner/bowlturner display area.the first pic I show of it with finish in garage, well, I chucked it up a third time, and resanded the wings to get rid of any straight lines.
Im not proud of any of it , but Im thrilled my hands and eyes are permitting me to have so much fun.

btw, last pic, the square bowl is drying on top of the cherry bowl I made from the chunk I got from Ted. That bowl came out ok, a few people have asked me about it, so I know it isn't that bad.
 

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Belay my previous comment, after some cleanup this one is looking pretty fantastic.


It's relative. I won't use them under power without at least some tailstock support for anything other than light sanding and that cautiously. The problem is basically that they sometimes don't grab all that well so you can easily toss a bowl. I haven't since I started talking more reasonable precautions but am pretty circumspect in how trusting I am.
 
Looks good Allen, especially for a first attempt. :thumb: I'll second Ryan's comment on the Cole jaws...just make sure you have the tailstock in place for support and you'll be fine. When finishing off the last little part where the tailstock was, just use low speeds, sup[er light cuts, and plenty of caution. Cole jaws are not nearly as secure as regular jaws. ;)

...I did set one up to do earlier this week, but broke my band saw in the middle of squaring up the blank...

You've got a big enough lathe that you should be able to true an un-square blank on the lathe itself, especially since you have it on a faceplate. No need for the bandsaw to square it up. ;)
 
Looks great to me Allen, I've given up the spinning side until I find{read>afford} something better than what I had...yep 'had', sold that crapsman 2 weeks ago...going to suck not getting anymore cookies for a while, but the only spinning technique I was gaining was getting dizzy... I'd be pickled tink to have turned out anything half as nice as that bowl!!! :thumb:
 
Looks good Allen, especially for a first attempt. :thumb: I'll second Ryan's comment on the Cole jaws...just make sure you have the tailstock in place for support and you'll be fine. When finishing off the last little part where the tailstock was, just use low speeds, sup[er light cuts, and plenty of caution. Cole jaws are not nearly as secure as regular jaws. ;)



You've got a big enough lathe that you should be able to true an un-square blank on the lathe itself, especially since you have it on a faceplate. No need for the bandsaw to square it up. ;)

since I cut holes in the bottom of my bowls(so far) to hold on chuck, using the tailstock with the cole jaws is not a problem.

I had to try them. I think Ill get a much better view of the bottom and get a smoother sanded surface, but ofcourse, I could be wrong.

If I don't like the jaws, they will go on craigs list.

btw, this is my second attempt, the first one ended up with rounded ends and looked like an ashtray from the 70s.

I still have the fear of cutting walls too thin and it exploding on me. ONce I get past that, I will get much more form on my bowls.
 
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One other trick with the cole jaws is if I don't need to touch the center of the bottom up I'll stick a small chunk of wood between the tailstock center and the bottom to keep from marking the bottom up at all. Works pretty well but you gotta watch the grain to make sure you don't split the scrap piece.

I mostly use a Longworth chuck cause it's a smidge faster to adjust the size and I have a pretty big one but the setup and issues are about the same (or even perhaps a bit worse with the Longworth).

One other thing to note is having a wee bit of a lip helps them get ahold easier. For really straight sided stuff like boxes I look at other options cause neither cole jaws nor the Longworth hold for squat in that case (although it's been a while so might give it another round to see if I'm smarter now :))
 
I'm a big fan of cole jaws, but you have to use them properly. The manual clearly states to slow down to no more than 600 rpm when using them. I don't turn any faster than that even when supported by the tailstock. I keep the tailstock in place until it's time for the final bottom cleanup. I bought my cole jaws from Woodcraft to fit my SNII chuck. PSI has some longer bumpers that are good for holding deep bowls or those with a more square side shape. They fit the SNII cole jaws too.

My Jet 1642 came with a cone shaped live center and the cone screws off and under it is a cone shape. I saw a demonstrator screw a golf ball (3/4" hole drilled into it) onto the cone live center and put in the tailstock. It's great for holding something you don't want marked up. Works great.

I've made a few square bowls and other things with square corners. I think you'll find if you use a harder wood than cedar, you can turn the wings thinner. Cedar just doesn't have the strength to stand up to thin turning.
 
I put the cole jaws on today to do some sanding.
the kit comes with 8 inset screws and 8 other screws to screw on the rubber feet.
I got 9 inset screws and 7 screws for the rubbers.
The inset screw fit, so Im using it, hopefully teknatool will send me the one screw.

steve, I have cut off pieces of Spanish cedar, so it doesn't cost me anything, I don't get upset if I have to toss something, and its easy to sand.

this is one of the pieces of walnut I got from larry.
 

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