Hello, everyone!

After almost 18 years of woodworking, I have finally decided to learn to turn bowls and other vessels. I have an older Craftsman lathe that has servd me fine for spindle work for nearly ten years. I bought a bowl chuck and face plate along with a bowl gouge and some bowl blanks and got to work.

Ouch!!!

I knew that the bloodwood and osage orange blanks were hard as I have used both in furniture projects. But, WOW!, did my first two bowls look like junk. I have a good sharpening jig and am an experienced sharpener of all tools. I think (know) that my technique need practice and improving.

My question is about wood choice. Can anyone recommend a nice, easy wood to learn with? Something that wont catch so much and doesnt hurt so much when it flys out of my chuck and hit me in the face? I have tons of experience turning table legs and bed posts and drawer knobs but when it comes to bowls, I am having zero luck...

Can anyone help?

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Adam Welker
Red Car Construction and Fine Woodworking

Maple cherry or walnut would be good choices. Beech and gum also turn very well.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I agree with John, Maple, cherry,or walnut would great places to start. 

there are many good resources on line that can give you advice on bowl turning.

I always try to round out the piece lengthwise first, when possible doing this between centers. I always try to work between centers as long as possible (rounding and shaping the outside of the piece) This will help the piece's balance, and make it safer to work with.

hope this helps

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No greater Loves than God, Family, Friends, country, the sight of flying chips and the smell of saw dust.

Something that wont catch so much

I'm wondering about your lathe turning  skill set.

I used to use  wood lathe  tools like I used tool bits as a machinist.  I hunted out center and drove the tool straight in from a horizontal position.   Needless to say  catching  was the order of the day.

Eventually I fell by pure dumb luck into the habit of rubbing the bevel the ground part against the work.

My catching days were almost over.

Then I had to figure out why when I turned a gouge on it's side that it was always grabbing and making a mess.

Took me  a while to realize that  it makes a big difference which direction the open face of the gouge I  presented to the work depending on which way I was going  to feed the tool.

Lathe work is jam packed with  counter intuitive stuff like that and  the best way to learn it is to get a book or three  take a class or buy some videos.

Maybe you are right. I turn legs and knobs alot but bowl turning is new to me. I have been looking at some books to buy. Ultimately, I think I just need a milder wood like maple or cherry to learn on. Thanks for the advice.
 
Cliff said:

Something that wont catch so much

I'm wondering about your lathe turning  skill set.

I used to use  wood lathe  tools like I used tool bits as a machinist.  I hunted out center and drove the tool straight in from a horizontal position.   Needless to say  catching  was the order of the day.

Eventually I fell by pure dumb luck into the habit of rubbing the bevel the ground part against the work.

My catching days were almost over.

Then I had to figure out why when I turned a gouge on it's side that it was always grabbing and making a mess.

Took me  a while to realize that  it makes a big difference which direction the open face of the gouge I  presented to the work depending on which way I was going  to feed the tool.

Lathe work is jam packed with  counter intuitive stuff like that and  the best way to learn it is to get a book or three  take a class or buy some videos.

A couple of things,and please forgive me if you have already done them.

Start turning the bowl using a metal faceplate on what will eventually be the top of the bowl.

Use the tail stock live/dead center against the bottom of the blank as you round the piece.

Shape the outside of the bowl with the tailstock center against the bottom of the bowl.

Once the piece is balanced and shaped on the outside pull the tailstock back and shape the foot of the piece to allow your bowl chuck to capture the piece. I usually make an "inside" cavity. This means the chuck is expanded to hold the work piece.

Remove the piece, unmount the faceplate, rechuck the piece with the foot now in the bowl chuck. Mount the piece back on the lathe and bring the tail stock center against the "top" of the bowl. This will steady the piece as you start to remove and shape the inside if the bowl.

After the inside of the bowl starts to resemble an angel food cake pan, you can retract the tail stock and work on removing the center "post" that was left after shaping the inside.

The last bit of turning is finishing off the bowl foot- if you want to. The deep cavity for the bowl chuck can be turned off- or reduced to give a more finished look. To do this turning, you will need to make a chuck to hold the finished bowl with the bottom pointed towards the tail stock. The same position as when you first started. Here is a link to making several different designs from Mr. David Reed Smith-

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/WoodenFaceplate/WoodenFaceplates.htm

One other thing, I use scrapers more than gouges to do the shaping of a bowl. They are less aggressive and rarely catch.

Hope this helps.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Like the link Lew.

 I would also recommend you try and locate a turning club near you.  Some clubs are better than others, but you can see and or get a lot of info from experienced individuals.