This is the third bowl I turned, and the second made of birch. I managed to get the sides a little thinner, and the bottom thinner as well. I almost avoided tear-out on the end-grain sides of the bowl, only using the bowl gouge, but there was a little, so I sanded to clean things up.
Turned this one in a single session in the shop. Maybe three hours total, including cutting it octagonal on the bandsaw, mounting it on the plate, cutting it free, and using the belt-sander to take off the last nubbin on the bottom.
It’s a little over 5 inches in diameter, and about 1-¼ inches tall.
Six coats of shellac, with some light sanding with 400 grit between the fourth and fifth coats. I’m trying to decide if I should pull out my French polishing kit and try to really put a nice finish on it, or whether this is good enough.
This morning, my sweetie noticed a couple bluebirds sitting in the juniper by our corner. I got out the camera, and noticed there’s also a house finch sitting lower in the foliage. Cute!
We went out this evening to look at some of our neighbors’ Christmas lights. There are a couple pretty spectacular displays. We’ll be looking for more over the next couple weeks, too.
I had mentioned before that chollas turn purple in the winter around here. There’s one on the way to the mailbox that is more purple than any other I’ve seen, so I grabbed a picture of it this morning. Should’ve reached past it to get the other weed out of the picture, but I didn’t want to get footprints in the snow. Maybe tomorrow.
While waking up this morning, we heard a knocking on the roof. There were a couple ravens doing something up there.
One of them flew over to the top of the post holding the birdhouse and proceeded to eat something. Not sure what it was.
Then a couple other ravens started flying around, and the one from the birdhouse flew to the ground to finish his meal in peace.
Once he was done, he flew to the juniper in our yard, where he was joined by another raven. And then a third one flew up and there was a bit of a scuffle before all three of them flew off to somewhere else. It was fun to watch them.
I made a second bowl today, mostly concentrating on making the bottom of the bowl thinner, as well as the sides.
The bowl is about 5 inches in diameter, and about 1¼ inches tall. The bottom is between ¼ and ⅜ inch thick, and the sides are slightly less than ¼ inch thick at their thinnest.
It’s not perfect, but I feel like I’m getting better every day, which is a nice feeling.
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.
With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror, it’s time when people have put up their Christmas decorations.
We’ve talked of getting farolitos for our driveway, but this doesn’t feel like an especially festive year. Maybe we’ll find some on clearance in January. ;–)
