Juniper free form bowl #3: Finish and begin again!

JC, keep em’ comin’. Would ya mind sharing with us the types of grinding tools you’re using, and how you get the bowls to thickness without goin’ through? Thanks, and great job!

TZH

-- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dead-Wood-Renaissance/361417090585685

Sure…. The thickness is all determined on the amount of patience, time, and steady hand you are willing to put into the wood. You can see in one of the photos where I was a little careless with the grinder and got really thin in one spot where you can see light coming through the wood.

The tools I use are chainsaw, Lancelot/Squire chain grinder, Holey Galahad grinder, and a random orbital sander. I bought the grinding tools online at: http://katools.com/ and I can tell you they work great. The Holey Galahad sanders are awesome!

Step 1. Pick your piece of wood.

Step 2. Rough shape with chainsaw.

Step 3. More rough shape with Lancelot/Squire chain grinder. Very cool tool that really throws out some wood chips. BE CAREFUL using it though, two hands, lots of focus!!

Step 4. Start smoothing and thinning sides with Holey Galahad sanders coarse to fine (these work awesome, probably my new favorite tools right now!!)

Step 5. Continue smoothing with 40 and 60grit flap wheel sanders.

Step 6. Begin finish sanding with 60, 80, 120grit orbital sander

Step 7. Move on to filling cracks with stone inlays.

Step 8. Flap wheel sand the inlays flush with the wood.

Step 9. Orbital sander with 120 and 220grit to smooth out the inlays and any other scratches missed.

Step 10. Hand sand with 220, 320, 400, and 600grit.

Step 11. Tung oil finish, buffing with steel wool between coats.

-- Juniper Canyon Design

Very nice work. I may have to give something like this a try.

-- Use it up, Wear it out --------------- Make it do, Or do without!

I’m giving this a try with a red cedar block I picked up today while driving home and spotted it out by the street. Made a U turn and loaded it in the back of my van. I had been keeping an eye on this piece for a few years. They lopped the top of the tree off and left about a 5 ft stump and finally they cut it down about 5 years later. I’m not sure how it will come out but I’m trying anyway.

-- Erwin, Jacksonville, FL