| Project by TheDane | posted 76 days ago | 1289 views | 6 times favorited | 12 comments |  |
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I have been struggling with getting the alignment of rings in segmented bowls. Being a fraction of an inch off on a ring … especially the bottom rings … can ruin a bowl, wasting wood, glue, and a lot of time.
One of the turners in my local club gave me a tip that really paid off.
He suggested super-gluing four little blocks around each ring to aid in alignment.
With the last/top ring flat on the bench, stack the next to the last ring on it, and center with a combination square.
Next, use CA/super glue to glue 4 little scraps of wood (I cut 1/4” plywood into squares) around the ring (being careful not to super glue the rings themselves together). The plywood squares are used to repeat the alignment when the glue goes on.
Place another ring on top of the stack and repeat. When all rings have been prepped, use a Sharpie to put a witness mark on the rings, then unstack and start gluing. I have a simple jig (a piece of plywood with a hole that fits the back of a face plate and 2 clamps) that I use to put clamping pressure on the stack. I let the glued up stack cure overnight.
When you are turning, the plywood squares will come flying off when you hit them with the gouge, but, so what? You have you face mask on (don’t you?)!
This particular bowl has 85 pieces … a solid maple disk in the bottom, and 7 rings (oak and maple) with 12 segments to a ring. It is 9 1/2” in diameter, and 2 1/4” high. The walls are 1/8” thick, so this bowl doesn’t weigh very much. I glued the bottom disk directly to a waste block that is in turn screwed onto a face plate.
-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"
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12 comments so far
Monte Pittman
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7079 posts in 511 days
#1 posted 76 days ago
Thanks for the pictures. As a non lathe person I always wondered how it was done.
-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it. - It's not ability that we often lack, but the patience to use our ability
branch
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900 posts in 1327 days
#2 posted 76 days ago
hi very nice bowl like it i use hot glue to hold the wedges in places and the knock of very easily before turning
branch
Joe Lyddon
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6401 posts in 2225 days
#3 posted 76 days ago
COOL work, Gerry!
That looks SO intricate… I can see how one could waste a little wood getting things ‘just right’.
Looks like you’ve figured it out!
Good for you!
One slight slip on that lathe & I’ll bet you have Fire Wood too… LOL
Thank you.
-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"
MonteCristo
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2061 posts in 361 days
#4 posted 76 days ago
Good tip on how to keep the layers in line ! Thanks !
-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""
b2rtch
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2958 posts in 1221 days
#5 posted 76 days ago
This is a very nice bowl Gerry, congratulations.
Thank you for the tips but I do not turn
-- Bert
CalgaryGeoff
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500 posts in 654 days
#6 posted 75 days ago
I like this piece, fantastic work. Im enjoying your posts.
-- If you believe you can or can not do a thing, you are correct.
Bluepine38
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2106 posts in 1258 days
#7 posted 75 days ago
Very nice looking bowl, I see that you use your tail stock as an extra brace to keep the bowl fastened to
the waste block until you have it rounded off. Took me one ruined bowl to pick up that trick.
-- As ever, Gus-the 74 yr young apprentice carpenter
helluvawreck
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10500 posts in 1039 days
#8 posted 75 days ago
It’s a beautiful bowl, Gerry. Nice work. I’m hoping to be able to do something like that one day.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau
TheDane
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2679 posts in 1835 days
#9 posted 75 days ago
Bluepine38—I use the tail stock as often as I can.
I think the fixing metod I use is pretty solid (glue the bottom of the blank directly to a waste block that is screwed to a faceplate), but I like the extra support.
The live center that came with my lathe is somewhere in drawer, having been replaced by one (from Delta) that has replaceable components (standard cup, 60-degree point, and one with a 1” diameter foot on it).
-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"
JJones98042
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157 posts in 425 days
#10 posted 75 days ago
Very nice bowl and great tips! Thanks.
-- "Keep thy airspeed up, lest the earth come from below and smite thee." - William Kershner
Tim Scoville
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95 posts in 1508 days
#11 posted 75 days ago
Very nice job on this one. Nice and thin walls.
-- Tim S, WA
mafe
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#12 posted 75 days ago
You are really getting the hang of that lathe!
Nice bowl.
Best thoughts,
Mads
-- Mad F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect. Democraticwoodworking.
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