| Project by Alin Dobra | posted 779 days ago | 362 views | 2 times favorited | 9 comments |  |
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I made this bowl from a large oak that was cut down in my neighbourhood. While lots of things went wrong (lost the bark early on, lost a little bit of the rim), when the bowl dried I had a big surprise. This was the first time I saw something so contorted. As it turns out, oak moves a lot due to humidity. Since the bowl is of uniform thickness it bent instead of cracking. From what I can tell, the bowl has to be less than 3/16 for that to happen. Another bowl that was about 1/4 did crack in two places.
This is the first bowl I experimented with spraying shellac on and it did not turn up too well (I figured out the problem: need the smallest nozzle to spray shellac). The bowl is not sanded properly either. A large chunk came out and I re-glued back using super glue. Nevertheless, since none of these show up in the pictures and since is contorted in such a spectacular way, I thought It might make a good post. To get an idea about how big it is, the largest dimension is 15” and the height about 6”.
-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida
9 comments so far
dennis mitchell
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3789 posts in 1208 days
posted 779 days ago
That is interesting. Nice work!
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
MsDebbieP
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posted 779 days ago
dang that is SWEET !!
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
jimbo
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posted 779 days ago
Really turned out to be a very nice piece. Awesome.
-- James Elrod Jr.
TonyWard
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posted 778 days ago
Alin
Nice work. I have the view that there is no such thing as a mistake, just opportunities for creativity!
-- Bandsaw Box Plans
Roger Strautman
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posted 778 days ago
Very unique Alin. We never stop learning no maker how old we are!
-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"
DAN
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posted 777 days ago
really nice. what rpm do you run the lathe at when turning somethings this thin and large ?
-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever
Alin Dobra
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posted 777 days ago
Dan,
My lathe’s smallest speed is 600rmp (I think on portions is doing 700rpm though). The trick is to perfectly balance the log on the lathe. In one of the postings for the other bowls I’m making I described the technique. I’ll prepare a blog entry the next time I turn a bowl (soon hopefully) in which I”ll include pictures and explanations of everything.
Alin
-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida
Karson
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posted 726 days ago
Great design. And a fantastic looking bowl.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
YorkshireStewart
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posted 726 days ago
Thanks Karson for resurrecting this one. You didn’t really need to point out the problems with it Alin; it comes over as a real work of art. I’ve never turned an ‘end grain’ bowl. I must have a go at that.
Author and cartoonist Scott Adams said: ”Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business. http://www.folksy.com/shops/TreeGems