Some bowl turning success, but...

[CarvedTones]

Here is the purty picture:

That's a blank I cut from stock, mounted on a faceplate, formed a decent bottom with a tenon, reversed it and chucked it, removed the waste in the center down to a reasonable and mostly uniform thickness. Surface is decent; needs some sanding/scraping and I have a few shallow pits in end grain and a tiny chink in the rim, but all are small enough to deal with. I am pretty stoked! Well, except for this:

I revealed a defect. I am torn about whether to mess with it or not, and if so what to do.

 

[Dragon]

Nice looking work there. As far as the defect, I see that a lot in some of my ambrosia too. You can try mixing some of the same sawdust in an epoxy of your preference and fill the defect with that or use the same technique with CA. Then again, depending on the depth of it, either cut on through it or leave it for "character" effect.

 

[WoodWrangler]

Very nice work there!

As for the defect, if you can leave it ... I would ... but that's just my preference. I think they look neat.

 

[Trent Mason]

Andy,

I think it looks great. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up If you have close to the thickness/dimensions/etc that you're looking for, and can still fit it on a chuck without further damage, go ahead and sand and finish. :icon_thum I've given away bowls with cracks in them and the recipients still loved them.

 

[Mark Stewart]

At my house we call that SPECIAL DESIGN ENHANCEMENT some folks charge extra for that but I let it go same price as regular bowls.

Nice bowl Andy
Thanks Mark

 

[boxxmaker]

LEAVE IT :slap: :gar-La; Thats the kind of wood that I love to turn an maybe it's just me,but I think it looks better with the natural voids than with any kind of filler.It looks beautifull as it is,can't wait to see the finished product :eusa_danc:eusa_danc

 

[JimmyC]

I think it looks great Andy, and I would leave it. Natural defects are what makes each bowl unique, if they all came out cookie cutter looking then they might as well be plastic.

Nice job.

 

[Rob]

Leave it, looks natural to me. Or you can fill it with crushed stone, brass filings, etc to add to it.

 

[CarvedTones]

Thanks for all the kind words. There seems to be a consensus; I will leave the natural "feature". It does sort of go all the way through, so turning it away is not an option. By "sort of", I mean it has an inner counterpart that is much less noticeable - barely still there, but barely counts.

This is the first "full size" (it's a little under 8") bowl I have done and I started with the attitude that it doesn't need to be perfect and then fell into what I call the "green shot bell curve of satisfaction". Even if you don't play golf (and I haven't in years) I think you will follow the analogy. When you hit a shot that lands on the green and doesn't go in, you will generally be most satisfied if it lands 5' - 10' away. Further away, satisfaction dips because the chances of sinking the putt are low. The odd thing is that closer in you begin to despair about not having put just a little more on it or pushing it just a tad more to the right or whatever would have made it go in. Under a foot from the cup, some guys go ballistic. I think I just remembered why I haven't played in so long.

 

[Robert Arrowood]

Andy what ever you do don't take that attitude with turning:no:.I think the bowl looks great:icon_thum.Just remember when sanding not to get it too hot.If we as turner's throw out every bowl that we find with type of "enhancement" we would never finish any:nah:.

If it go's all the way through just remember what DaveO say's {IF IT DON'T HOLD SOUP IT'S ART}.

:rotflm:

 

[CarvedTones]

I generally don't take that attitude; I am anything but a perfectionist most of the time. I would not have been surprised to have a couple of catches while shaping and end up with a smaller and/or more steeply shaped form. Trouble at the rim resulting in a platter/saucer would have been less than shocking. I stopped and checked the tenon/chuck often because I wasn't sure whether I had enough in the chuck (maybe 3/8"). It never budged. I honed my bowl gouge. I had just watched part of a bowl turning DVD that Gary loaned me and I was trying to mimic the technique of carefully riding the bevel and rolling to the edge as I pushed in, keeping my hands exactly as suggested and using my whole body. I was cutting with control and not catching, throwing chips just like the guy (I will have to check the title in a bit; I forget who) on the video. Amazing! I got caught up in the feeling that I might know what I am doing and raised my expectations a bit too high.

Back down to Earth today, I do have some work to do on the end grain. Oil will make it really ugly if I don't get it a lot smoother. I also don't have large soft jaws, so I need to come up with a good plan for cleaning up the bottom.

 

[Mike Davis]

Another hundred like that and you'll be a pro! :icon_thum

 

[PChristy]

Andy nice bowl and form:icon_thum I too would leave the defect if at all possible -

 

[sawduster]

Another vote for leaving it . I think it looks nice :icon_thum
I have to get out of that perfection mindset myself when practicing on bowls ( yes, for me they are all still practice ...I've got a long way to go ) . I tell myself that this ' is not going to be a museum piece " and allow myself to go with the flow . I've messed many of them up trying to tweak that last little bit if perfection out of them . I'm slowly learning to curtail that

Good job bro :eusa_clap