My First Bowl

Looks good to me!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Nice, I like the grain pattern inside the bowl.. I have no idea about the drying, but someone here will… Welcome.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

It looks great…put it in a paper bag or two to let it dry (you could use newspapers too), but not let it dry too quickly…change the bag every day or so, so it doesn’t mold. I’ve heard that microwaving works – but I don’t know too much about that! I’d imagine that it’ll dry in a few weeks, given how thin it is. You’ll be able to feel the difference and tapping the bowl will take on a different sound when it dries…the inexact ways to measure moisture content should work okay for a bowl like this!

In the future, you’ll want to turn your green rough bowls a bit thicker so that you can take the warp out after it dries…may be harder to do if it’s at a 1/4” to start with…

Keep turning those bowls!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

It’s a worthy bowl. Get Bill Grumbine’s videos on turning bowls. His first one is really the best. The second one is okay, but not a must-buy. http://www.wonderfulwood.com Again, nice bowl.

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

And check out Tom's videos too!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Thanks for the comments!

Dorje – Thanks for the paper bag tip. I remember reading about that somewhere but had completely forgotten about it. When it comes to thickness, I think the instructors of the class I took had us turn the bowls a bit thinner than normal so they could show us a few finishing techniques. In the future I will certainly follow your advice and turn any green-wood bowls a little thicker before drying.

That makes sense that they wanted to show you all the way through the finish stages…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

A very worthy effort for the first bowl.

First bowl! Super.

-- Jiri

I don’t know anything about turning, but it sure looks good for a “first”!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Very attractive, great first bowl.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3 http://www.portablesawmill.biz/concrete/

bravo!! :

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

That’s really elegant Philip. To check on rate of drying, it’s an idea to weigh the bowl, say every five days (kitchen scales?) & make a note. When you get the same reading a couple or three times, it’s an indication that the moisture loss has gone as far as it’s going to. This is perhaps more use with Dorje’s idea of rough turning when the loss will be greater than with your thinner bowl.

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business. http://www.folksy.com/shops/TreeGems

Very nice first bowl.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com

Great work. Looking forward to more!

-- Chris

Nice bowl

-- Marge, Colorado

YorkshireStewart – As you recommended, I weighed the bowl this morning and plan to keep track. I had the bowl sitting in a paper bag and hadn’t even thought to peek at it at all yesterday; in just 24 hours the shape has changed quite a bit. There is no cracking so far, but the shape is much more oblong than it was after I first turned it.

Thanks again for all the comments!

I haven’t turned wood since High school, I did enjoy doing it but for the life of me I can’t remember what I turned. O Well I passed. Now I enjoy woodworking because the seed was planted 46 years ago. Wow that took a long time to blossom. Your about to enjoy a life time of fun. Thanks for sharing.

-- Dominic, Trinity, Florida...Lets be safe out there.

That was your first bowl? Wow great job. My first bowl exploded off the lathe. LOL