I am a beginner with turning and have just recently figured out how to use a bowl gouge. I sharpened all my gouges on a Tormek T8 as I can't hand sharpen worth a hoot.

 

My chickens needed a better way to offer them crushed oyster shell, granite grit and crushed egg shell. As part of my Chicken steps that I built I provided 3 holes in an board to fit 3 bowls in.

 

I made the bowls from red oak boards that I had milled from a big log. I used a hole saw to cut out some of the center and used the biggest center cutout as a doubler for the bottom once the chickens did some field testing and demonstrated that the bowls were not secure. I used Titebond III glue and Tried & True Varnish oil to finish them.

 

Nothing fancy but good fun to make when you don't have green chunks of wood to make a bowl.

 

JT

Nice job on those turnings. I like the way you created the bowl blanks!

Those look good.  Good solution to your problem.

I have one hole saw mandrel that is old but works the best because it presses down on the hole saw making it rigid on the mandrel. I'll take a photo of it later and post it.

 

JT

Nice bowls and I'll admit I'm a little jealous. I've been turning for several years and some days it seems I'm STILL learning to use a bowl gouge!

I know that feeling, start a cut and you know how to do the cut and the bowl gouge skips off into space... I've been trying to teach myself for a few years and finally got somewhat of a feeling of how to hold the gouge and when to use which tool.

 

JT

Methinks the chickens got no idea how good they got it. Nice work!

Nice work! I've got half a dozen attempted bowls that just didn't turn out the way I wanted. Hmmm... Maybe time to get some chickens.

Nice job . Looks like you have gotten a good grip on the bowl gouge to me. Now if we can just get the chickens to clean up their act, or lay more eggs to pay for the cleanup.

Great job JT. I'm fully enjoying your creativity and all your posts of late. At least you aren't chicken to share your work.

16 hours ago, Gerald said:

Nice job . Looks like you have gotten a good grip on the bowl gouge to me. Now if we can just get the chickens to clean up their act, or lay more eggs to pay for the cleanup.

I collect the rent each day but some days they are short...

 

JT

This is my very first bowl I managed to turn on the lathe and it's a chicken bowl for grit. I ain't proud I know it's ugly but it worked until I got the other bowls and stairs made.

 

JT