Wood Bowls Made with a Router and a Scrollsaw

Interesting! I have never seen it done that way before.

Looks great.

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

You have made very attractive looking bowles without using lathe. What is home made sanding balls? More elaborate description of how the rings are cut, glued and shaped would have helped us to understand this new method of making bowles. I saw your additional photos and they are so nice. Thanks for posting
Sharad

-- patanjali

Wow! These are great! I have this book but never realized how beautiful this type of bowl would look! I’m going to have to pull it off the library shelf for another look. Thanks!

-- I'm a wood magician... I can turn fine lumber into firewood before your very eyes! - http://www.woodworkersguide.com

Richard,

These are beautiful. I looked at your web site and you have created some really outstanding pieces.

Well done. Like Ted, I am going to look at this book. This is a technique that is new to me.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

This, to a certain extent, is what the RingMaster allows you to do – make a bowl out of a flat piece of wood. With the RingMaster, though, it must be put back on the lathe for final turning, sanding & finishing. What you also don’t get with the RingMaster is the ability to do any other shapes than perfectly circular. The scrollsaw method would give you pretty much any shape your heart desired if I understand it correctly.
Nice looking bowls!

-- † Hops †

Richard these bowls are amazing! ... as are the ones on your website.

Thanks for sharing them.

-- Martin, Kansas

Please post a tutorial on this one if you get a chance. I can see the benefits over the lathe with this technique. I envision a lot of sanding though. Maybe I am wrong about that. would love to see it done.

by the way. The bowls look great.

-- JJohn

Those are some beautiful vessels!

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

If I wasn’t on a woodworking site I would have thought this was pottery because of the unique shapes. Great idea; very nice.

Thanks for the great comments. Sharad and JJohn I will take a photo of my sanding ball to give you an idea what it looks like. This whole process is very specific and the book describes every detail of the process. I could not explain it clearly without writing another book. The key is to make all the tools and jigs as he describes and with that you will have everything you need. The main shop tools are a router, scrollsaw and a drillpress. It does create a lot of sawdust when shaping but their is something very rewarding about making these bowls. Thanks Again LJs

-- Richard http://www.LearnFineCrafts.com

If you make another please take some “along the way” pictures to at least outline the process. These are really fine pieces.

-- Maplewood, MN

These are awesome! I have never seen this technique before. I went through your site and you have some amazing stuff there. I second the comment above that it almost looks like pottery. I have already gone to amazon and bought a used copy of this book as I have to try this myself.

I haven’t read the book yet, but I wonder if you could shorten the sanding time by using an inshave. It would certainly cut down on the dust! Thank you so much for sharing, this one is favorited!

-- Check out my new blog at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

beautiful work … about how long did the mahogany bowl take to make ? very surprising piece

-- a legend in my own mind ...

Shannon thanks for the comments. I never tried an inshave but make sure to have a cushioned surface below because holding the bowl in place may be difficult. It is easy to crack a bowl if too much pressure is applied in a clamp and if you try to hold it lightly it may pop out.

Dan, I think you are talking about the red bowl. Someone gave me that piece of wood. I think it is Red Heart. It is very dense and hard to work but it shimmers when you move it around. It took about 11 hours to make. I may have been able to do it in less time but my work is always broken up. It was my first attempt at a larger bowl. It measures about 13 ” x 9” x 6”

-- Richard http://www.LearnFineCrafts.com

Woodsmith magazine (pages 16 through 21 of Volume 29/Number 170) showed how to make routed Bowls (no sanding ball, etc.), but they can’t hold a candle to yours.

Yours are truly works of art!

-- child of the King, Ephesians 5:22

these are really cool!
I’ve turned a couple of small bowls, but nothing as interesting as these!

-- ~ www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.woodworkingdungeon.blogspot.com ~