Freckled Bowl

[Dee2]

Another piece of green maple. With the grain, 8.5" dia., across the grain, 8.3" dia. Wall about 1/4" and ~3.3" deep. Turned outside and sanded it and turned inside and sanded it then went to lunch. Got back and it moved. Still, chucked nicely on the Cole jaws - meaning the tenon was in reasonably square and consistent shape wise and the roughed out foot didn't have to be trued (very much). Yorkshire grit only at this time. OBTW, sanded to 320 before the Yorkshire grit was applied.

C&C welcomed.

 

[Graywolf]

Can I assume you cored these bowls out of the same log?

 

[Dee2]

Nope. These weren't cored. I'm not quite that good on coring to do 'tight' nested bowls, LOL!
But, I have been coring some of the maple I have. Starting to get a little more comfy with the McNaughton. As Mahoney says, "The more I core, the luckier I get."

 

[John Jimenez]

Nice job Gene! One of these days I’m gonna have to give in and get a lathe and start learning to turn.

 

[Dee2]

It's a vortex. A black hole. A spiral of no return. Tread carefully. Very carefully.

On the other hand, the forum has a loaner lathe for people to use to see if they want to do more. Contact Casey (Oka) who manages the loaner for more information.

 

[John Jimenez]

It's a vortex. A black hole. A spiral of no return. Tread carefully. Very carefully.

On the other hand, the forum has a loaner lathe for people to use to see if they want to do more. Contact Casey (Oka) who manages the loaner for more information.

Thanks Gene! LOL! I have seen through other posts that there is a loaner lathe….I have been tempted. I battling right now between having so many projects on my schedule and hating that there is the whole turning subculture out there that I am not a part of. It pains me to see all these awesome turning projects that I cannot even begin to understand the process of how it’s done. Every time I see a used lathe for sale on FB marketplace I am always tempted. Thanks for suggesting the loaner lathe. Next time I see it pop up, I’ll put my hand up, projects be damned

 

[Dee2]

There is a waiting list. Being on the list may console your 'pain', LOL!

 

[Roy G]

Gene, I always put a bag over the bowl if I have to leave it on the lathe while I go off to do something else. Until the final finishing, I figure the bowl is going to move and make it hard to work. After I finish it off, any movement is very slight and adds to the "character" of the piece.

Roy G

 

[Dee2]

Roy, I do also. This time I just laid a plastic bag on top of the bowl and went to lunch. Usually I add a small amount of water to the bag and tie it up around the back of the chuck. I was lazy!

My laziness was compounded by the fact that the lathe is directly under a skylight and the sun started breaking through the clouds as I was leaving.

Just another opportunity to be flexible!

 

[karlkoch]

Nice looking bowls Gene. You said they were sanded to 320 grit but that the wood was green. Did you wet sand? If not, how did you keep the sandpaper from gumming up from the wet wood?

 

[Dee2]

Karl,

Good to hear from you!

It's maple so the entrained moisture's not as bad as other woods. As I posted earlier somewhere 18-24% moisture from this tree.

I'm not wet sanding.

I've been power sanding starting at 120, or 150, or 180 dependent on whether I start thinking it is going to be twice turned bowl and then change my mind. And some days I turn better than others. When I get to 220, I power sand briefly with very light pressure (I try not to fully compress the soft foam pads) and then hand sand with 220 and a bright light. The 320 has been very much all hand sanding and is really an opportunity to get make sure the lower grit markings have been erased and my eyes don't seem to be improving with use.

I've only experienced minor gumming with this maple and hadn't thought about till you brought it up.