I was actually working on getting the pillar out of the middle, how ever every time I would go into make a cut into it... The hollowing tool would just simply catch on the pillar spin but it would hit on the tool rest didn't hurt anything but its a little irritating when it does that.  So I gotta figure out a work around to that.

Purple heart may not just break off in this case.  It is pretty solid stuff.  But you can weaken it by using a drill chuck in your tailstock and drilling a hole in the center.  Go slow, say with a 1/4 bit and expand to larger bits till it breaks off.  Once that is done you can finish it off with light cuts with a scraper.  If no drill chuck then a cordless drill, on slow.  Idea being to weaken the center by drill it out.

 

BUT if you are tired, CALL IT A DAY!!!  Having come this far no sense in screwing it up just trying to finish.  Tomorrow is another day.

2 minutes ago, Gunny said:

Purple heart may not just break off in this case. 

As long as the cut is not into endgrain the stub will break off in any wood when nit gets thin enough, usually at 1/2 inch is safest. If the hollowing is endgrain then that is a whole nother story.

 

If live oak will break that way anything will.

Well for the most part I figured out a way that I felt comfotable with taking out the support pillar.  I lined up my tool rest to match middle with the EWT rougher and went to work just trimming it down like I would remove stock from the outside of a project.  Worked quite well managed to take it all the way down.  I finished hollowing out the last 3/4 or 1/8 inch that I planned on going as to not blow through the bottom of the bowl.  And welp WE HAVE A SUCCESSFUL BOWL.  So I'm very happy with this.  Tomorrow I plan on doing a ton of sanding, this will be for food yes but no wet foods only dries.  So I think the bowl finish should be good enough.  I think I'm a lot more comfortable with turning bowls with the 6x6x3 blank starts now than I was before.   So its a win win.

I think we've got a decent one here.  No tear outs sanded really well.  I'm happy with this one.  I think as I said I'm going to stick to the 6x6x3 blanks.  Its a good size so I've got to locate more of those.  In the long run I think this was a win.  Just gotta let this coat of bowl finish dry and apply another 2 or 3 coats.

Nicely Done!

Thanks, welp at least I'm learning.

Good topic and thread, good student and videos, good discussion and great teachers.  What could be better?  This is like being in school but not as boring.  

Nice work, came out great.  So what it took awhile.  Part of the learning curve.  

That is super Andrew.

This should work quite well the stock rubber stoppers seem to hold it snugly how ever.  I do have the 1 1/2 inch stoppers from Penn state on the way as well so that should make things a lot better than these.  I think I'm almost at the maximum with these 6x6x3 blanks for the cole jaws that I have.  So I got the bowl fit up and ready to go for tenon removal this morning gotta see what the new  hockey team name is first hopefully it aint something god awful.

You can get a little more "range" out of the cole jaws if you have the stoppers set so they grip the inside of the turning when the jaws are expanded out (Opened). HOWEVER!!!! Using that method depends on the inside shape of the turning. It should be straight to slightly curved inward to assure a solid grip. I always use strapping tape with this method.

Yea I've got the stoppers on the 2nd to last notch on them to fit the blanks.  If I stick to 6x6x3 blanks which for now until I look for a flat banjo base for the lathe will continue to work.  So once I take care of that then maybe I'll be able to get into 8 inch bowls or so.

2 more coats of finish and this bowl will be finished.

Beautiful!

 

Just a little tip- and you may have done this but it's difficult to see in the photo- when you finish off the bottom of a bowl, make the bottom slightly concave. It will set better on any surface that way.

This one is not concave I will have to remember that for the next one which will be made out of African Padauk so I'll have to mask up for that one. Thanks...

I'm also thinking that the Mid Sized Easy Hollower with a negative rake may be my better option for hollowing since it has a bit longer of a reach than the PSI.  I'm not liking those tools as much they worked for this project.  I just wont be able to pick up the EWT until next month which I plan on doing.  Id love to have an easy chuck but that will have to wait for a while until I can save up.

Edited July 23, 20206 yr by AndrewB

I've been watching a lot more of the live demonstrations. From what I'm seeing, the Easy Wood Tools #1 hollower is becoming the favorite "go-to" tool of many of the turners. Not just for hollowing but all around turning. 

 

Maybe @Jim from Easy Wood Tools can give us an idea of what turners are saying about this tool.

 

Depending on what I am turning, I'll use either cutter and often both on the same project.

31 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

This one is not concave I will have to remember that for the next one which will be made out of African Padauk so I'll have to mask up for that one. Thanks...

If you do goblets use same method. This way it sits flat and doesn't get stuck to table.

Edited July 23, 20206 yr by Gunny

Yea I'm going to be spending some time  at some point watching some youtube videos on it as well, the one in particular that I was looking at was the Mid sized straight hollowing tool.