Our wood turning club is having a contest. Turn something out of wood that's Artsy.
I decided on a bowl. Well actually I decided on a couple other things and determined that I had procrastinated so long that I only had time to finish a bowl. Anyway, It started out by me screwing my faceplate to the chunk of Ash that was given to me:o) I built the faceplate also.
After threading the faceplate onto the lathe, I determined that my lowe4st speed was way too fast!!!
I had to move the piece to my metal lathe and get it running truer. Then I still had troubles. I ended up placing a bottle jack on the headstock. That and a 2X4 against the rafters and the lathe wouldn't wobble. (Too Bad) I shaped the outside of the bowl.
Then I chucked it in the 4 jaw and started hogging out the inside. The bowl gouge that I made works pretty good.
Notice the curly chips I'm making:o) I turned the wall thickness down to almost a quarter inch:o)
I then transferred the bowl to my Longworth chuck.
This bowl needs to stand out. To change things up a little I shaped the rim. I wanted to cut it on my band saw. I also wanted to do this with out lopping my hand off in the process. I made a elevated rest that I could set the bowl on and cut the rim to shape.
Here is how it turned out.
This is starting to get hard to hold onto. I used one of my nice rasps and shaped and sanded the edge round. Looking good:o)
During the turning of the inside, I had a couple catches. One sanded out. I wasn't so lucky with the other one. One of the judged aspects of the contest will be finish. What to do??? I tried using water and a little heat to swell the wood and fill the hole. I think some of the wood was gone so there wasn't enough to fill the void:o( I decided to hide it a different way.
I dug out my wood burner and scorched a little flower into the bowl.
When doing projects I like to try new things. I had read about a stain that ages wood. It's home made and cheap, so I'm in:o) I used about a cup of vinegar, a steel wool pad and a tablespoon of coffee grounds. Place contents in a jar and let sit over night. The next day I did a sample.
This stuff is kind of fun to mess with. When applied to Ash. The color changed as the solution dried. I dipped in a piece of white oak and it turned Black almost immediately. You can see as the areas dry the color darkens.
Here is two applications dried.
After it dries for a day or two I'll put on a couple coats of mineral oil and it will be a food safe bowl. Not much good for liquids because the worm holes go through. But I think we'll find a use for it:o)
The contest ends this Thursday. Wish me luck:o)
~Wes~
