First Turned Bowl
I got a lathe last month, and have been playing around, teaching myself to turn. This is the first bowl I finished, and while it’s far from perfect, I’m pretty darned happy with it.
There are a few rough spots where I have what I would call tear-out if I was working with a plane. I may go after them with a spokeshave or sandpaper, or I may just leave them be. I haven’t decided yet.
But the piece of ash I picked had some great grain, so I’ll be saving this bowl no matter how I decide to finish it. It was a great learning experience, and I hope the next one off the lathe will be even better.
I’ve been told I shouldn’t use a skew when turning a bowl. I did. Almost all of this was done with a ¾” bowl gouge and a ¾” skew. Mostly I was taking light enough cuts and using slow enough RPMs that I don’t think there was too much danger, but I’ve ordered a smaller bowl gouge (a ¼”) and a ½” round-nose scraper so I can finish off the surface more safely.
But I think I’m going to be back to spindle turning for a while anyhow. I need to make four legs for my forge table next, and I’d like to turn those round myself, so I’ll be practicing on short pieces for a while before tackling an almost three-foot long table leg. And I’ll probably need to take a break to sharpen my tools, too. Learning by trial and error is hard on the edges.
Update: I took a file and scalloped the rim to hide the worst of the tear-out. I think it looks a lot better now.
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