First bowl attempt - what is a good wood to try for a beginner/student turner?

[woodworker2000]

My 7th grade son is taking an Industrial Arts class at school and wants to try to turn his first bowl. I'm not expecting it to be anything spectacular but what is a good wood for him to try for his first effort? We want to try to pick something up this weekend and glue it up for him to take to school on Monday so I'm hoping the BORG may have something I can use (we have a soccer tournament this weekend so my shopping/glue up time is limited). Any suggestions? Thanks,

 

[Raymond]

It is far easier to turn wet wood than it is dried wood. I haven't seen any good woods for turning bowls in the BORG's but you might want to check out Klingspor's and get something from them that is not too expensive.

 

[chris_goris]

Find a chunk of firewood. Or go buy one of those bags of firewood from the grocery store. You should be bale to find something in there to practice on and finish a piece from.

 

[Rob]

Heck, I'll give you a bowl blank. What size lathe is he using? Solid wood, not glued up.

 

[CarvedTones]

Or get up with NC Turner (Gary). If he won't give you one, swing by and ask his wife. If he has as much as he did the last time I was there, she'll probably give you a truck load. :gar-La; :rotflm:

 

[woodworker2000]

Guys, thanks for the advice and offers. Since this is his first attempt at a bowl, I would hate to waste a good bowl blank on it. In the past week, all he has turned has been a mini-baseball bat, some tops and a solid wood "pencil" (I didn't understand that one but didn't really ask for an explanation). Depending on this bowl goes and his interest, I may take you up on a bowl blank for the next one. Again, many thanks.

 

[Rick M]

A few days ago I turned my first bowls from maple firewood.

 

[NCWood]

Hi Christopher, If you want to stop by my shop, in Archer Lodge, I'll be happy to fix your son up with some bowl blanks. I have lots of lower quality blanks that I give away. Gary@NCWood

 

[woodworker2000]

Thanks, Gary. I may take you up on that offer. What we ended up doing as a quick and dirty solution is gluing up several pieces of poplar so he could practice. I know it probably isn't the best wood to turn but we needed to get something for him quickly. I think we ended up with an 11 x 11 x 11 block after gluing everything up and squaring it up...he was pretty happy with it. He has been working on it for the past 2 weeks (he doesn't have the class every day at school) and it will probably keep him busy until the end of the school year (2 more weeks). He is taking a second year of Industrial Arts next year so depending on his interest after this first bowl, I may grab a blank from you for him for next year. Thanks again,
Chris