An Experiment in Bowl Blank Preparation

Tom -

Great project! I love the story – made me smile. I like the bowl. I am not a turner (yet) so I have no experience to guide or judge. I agree with your comment about the purpleheart top rim. A thin delicate rime of PH would look wonderful and would be a great accent for the YH. I stiil think it looks great!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Beautiful, Tom. Really nice contrast to the woods. Like most geniuses, under-appreciated in their own land. I’m sure my wife feels the same way about the Shop Tour fun. The look I got when she woke up this morning and I was still working on it – was less than enthusiastic. Even though I was just finishing up an attribution to her (and Deb’s daughter for photo work). You got credited, ur ah, Spid-tato man got credited for his cameo appearances.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Hello Tom,
Great bowl ! Nice shape. Love the yellowheart too. Looksgreat next to the purple heart.
Taking the photo with fruit made it even better !
Regards
DAN

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

Well done. If I knew your wife better I could suggest a retort…

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

love the bowl… AND the artistic top ring…. it kinda adds weight to keep the bowl “planted” firmly on the table, balancing on the smaller ring at the bottom.. if that makes sense. It does to me, the viewer, and so that’s all that counts, to me, the viewer!! :)

great photograph – nice setting.

family appreciation, well, what can one say… when it comes right down to it an artist’s work only matters to him/herself. If he/she is pleased, then it is good.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Well, thanks for the comments. I was jittering with anticipation each time I got a minute to get down to the shop to work on this. The foot was turned off it about 3am this morning. After losing the bowl from the tenon that was chucked twice, I mounted it in cole jaws to turn the foot and lost it again. I’m pleased at the glue joints because it hit the concrete floor both times…and the lathe bed…and tool rest, and my workbench leg…possibly the bandsaw as well.

Turning purpleheart: Yech…hard as a rock. I had to sharpen my gouges several times.
Turning yellowheart: Suprisingly oily and really nice to turn. Tears out a bit, but that can be controlled with a sharp gouge and paying attention to grain and bevel support.

Will I do another layered bowl? Baby yeah! And quite possibly start on one tonight!

Thanks for looking! And yes I know…I have to get cracking on the summer challenges…LOL

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Tom:

It’s a great looking bowl. But I do think that the large purple heart layer causes the eyes to stay too long in that spot. Maybe twice as big as the bottom PH layer.

The yellowheart does not seem to be a 1X and a 2X maybe more a 1X and a 2.5X layer, you could try the purpleheart in the same combination.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I can relate to your situation. If there was such a thing as a wood that was naturally demon-possessed, it would be purpleheart!

Of course, if you want a REALLY hard wood, try black locust.

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Nice Tom, I know almost nothing of turning (one of these days I’ll actually spend the time to get the lathe fixed) but I like the bowl.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

Good job Tom and nice to see you experiment with different woods and styles.
Turning is always a learning thing.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Interesting experiment, Tom. Nice combination of woods and color.

If you want to try really hard wood – try any variety of Aussie Eucalyptus.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Nice looking bowlll spiddy. N ice presentation picture takindg. jockmike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Neat looking bowl, Tom. I like the design.

-- Jesus is Lord!

good idea for preserving the inside of (and otherwise lost to dust portion of) the bowl. I agree with your design critique, but the experiment is a success!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I turn. And I like the bowl. So there! <grin>

Nice lines on the profile … it actually looks like you have giant fruit next to it … try this again with larger stock and maybe hold closer to the Golden Ratio for the layer thicknesses … but letting them get bigger towards the top.

Seriously, the bowl DOES look top heavy … but that gives it a sort of ‘anticipation of motion’ and could easily have been claimed as a design intention.

If you don’t want it, I’ll send you my address so you can dispose of it properly. 8-)

-- http://nmwoodworks.com (pens & bowls, mostly)

Cool Idea, I had thought of something similar to this idea but never put it to wood. Do think it would be possible with 3/4” stock? I guess you would just have to get the right angle.

-- David, www.briskibusiness.com

ditto on the “design intention”

that’s what makes art – art!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

dbriski, 3/4” stock would be fine. I think I would do it with a scrollsaw first though, or use a very narrow parting tool to preserve the stock. There was mention of a tool called a “Ringmaster” that apparently makes bowls from boards. The same sort of concept I guess.

Debbie, art is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I had an interesting comment on another forum, from an artistic turner that makes a living at this sort of thing. She stated that there is a balance with the yellowheart on the bottom and the purpleheart on the top. So, where I was failing to see it, balance existed.

I showed it to a friend and he said, “How did you get those paint lines so crisp?” I just took it from him and stomped away.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

lol you didn’t go throw a plant in it, did you??
:)

hmph. critics!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Tom nice bowl

I had a good laugh, paint ... some people don’t get it, wood is beautiful by itself.

-- Joel Tille

Tom,

I don’t think it’s too much purple heart as much as it is the shape of the top to the base. You could easily balance it out by turning a base which is larger in diameter (out of purple heart) and attaching it. I don’t know, after I said that I looked at it again and I don’t really know…I have to hold things before I make these kind of decisions. It’s very nice and I’m jealous of your lathe.

It’s a very beautiful piece.

-- Steffen