I've started on my popcorn bowls and the first feature ring was a failure due to the thickness I used. I was not able to make the cuts on my table saw with that thickness. Lesson learned... In the upper left corner I have the top two layers for each bowl ready and next to the sanding block what I thought would be ring below the feature ring. I was trying to get a pretty flat bowl... so much for that.

 

The second set of feature ring bits... trying to come up with a way to get the first squaring cut an exact distance from the peak of the purple heart peak...

 

I determined that cutting the 30° angle on the chop was not as accurate as I liked so I cut them on the table saw and much happier with the result. Things would be easy if I had enough material for all 16 cuts but the left one you can see a slight difference on the peak and valley... anyway my length calculations are correct now and next feature ring will be from one piece.

 

I think I'll cut the peak and valley off on my sled but I need a way to get accurate location... I'll sleep on it.

 

JT

Those are gonna be fantastic!

The feature ring jig works out well using the 30° bevel of the stop to locate the cut.

 

This one is made from two different glue ups due to a math error...

 

So I cut the peak off all the pieces of eight or eight pieces on the feature ring jig.

 

The odd one was a bit off...

 

I got my mind right now boss...

 

Two more glued up and I'll try and sneak up on the peak.

 

JT

I changed my mind on the design of the popcorn bowls, the chevron pattern seems to work better with vertical walls and I want a shallow set of bowls.

 

Started on the bottom layer yesterday, didn't want to have to glue 24 parts together at one time with Titebond III so I glued the black walnut pieces to the white oak first. I made a simple clamping jig from some scraps and some clamps and it's working quite well. The left ring was a test of the 12 segments.

 

JT

The bottom layer.

 

My largest jaws open to 4 3/4" and the base is 5 1/4" so I tried the bowl reversing jaws and was not happy with that.

 

Moving on I decided to build the next layer and chuck up the ID of that layer to finish the bottom.

 

JT

you're getting there.  Looks good.

Got the second layer glued up and starting on the third layer.

 

 

JT

Nice little glue-up jig.

After a bit of head scratching I got the bottom layer done... I had to drill the hole and use my 1" jaw to turn down the OD until I could chuck it with my biggest jaws...

 

Then I was able to finish the bottom so I could use my outside jaws to grip the inside of the recess.

 

JT

 

Edited January 26, 20233 yr by jthornton

A slight mistook on the third layer...

 

The ID is a tad big for a good glue joint.

 

I'll use it on a larger bowl.

 

JT

Smaller third layer glued up.

 

JT

First two layers roughed out.

 

I'm thinking it's going to turn out ok after all... when all layers are glued on I'll thin it down, but for now leaving it pretty wide.

 

JT

I found these 2 ounce bottles on amazon and I'm really liking them for gluing up. I've tried many others but the simple cap and bottle work the best.

 

I just put some glue on one side the rub the two parts together and done.

 

JT

I agree with the capped bottle.  I hate those pull up to open caps.  They are really hard to work.  I still have a cap I saved from the last bottle that had a top like that and use it.  Keep washing it up as needed. 

I made a short video using the fixture to glue the accent bits to the segments. This layer is 1/2" thick and my accent material was 3/4" so I sanded them down.

JT

Gluing up the final ring

 

I had to turn off the sound due to the music playing is copyrighted...

 

JT

6 minutes ago, jthornton said:

had to turn off the sound due to the music playing is copyrighted...

That's happened to me a couple of times.

I have been using Weldbond glue for inside out turnings.  It is a good glue that has a high tack in a short amount of time.  I cam get the pieces aligned and hold them for 30 seconds and they are set in place.  With regular wood glue the pieces slide when I put a clamp to them.  Not sure it would work in your application but I thought I would put it out there.  It is a good all around glue too.

 

 

Got a ring positioner made yesterday and I'm liking it. I tried a bolt and nut but it was not square enough to hold the ring parallel to the chuck so I machined one from 6061.

I drew lines on it while it was in the chuck but they got a bit fat and allowed the ring to be a smidgen off center but plenty close. The blue tape is applied with the end of the Rockler silicone glue brush and it holds position well.

 

It's a lot easier to line up the features now.

 

I used a different way to center the last ring... I need to take a photo of that process but it's centered to a few thousands on the glue up board.

 

JT

Got the popcorn bowl done... big enough to snuggle and share popcorn.

 

 

JT