| Project by kenn | posted 96 days ago | 176 views | 0 times favorited | 11 comments | ![]() |
I have a new lathe, bought a bowl gouge and have a stack of blanks waiting to be turned. This is my first attempt at a bowl. It is cherry finished with Hut friction polish and stands 3 1/4” high by 7” wide. It was a blast to turn. I’ve got a few things to do better next time like: 1)make the walls a more consistent thickness, they are 3/16” at the edge but 5/8” at the bottom, I got chicken 2)try a different finish, that friction polish is fine for pens but I don’t think it shows off the bowl very well 3) turn the rim as soon as I reverse the piece, I lost a bit on the height because of this 4) use the reverse jaws I ordered today because I didn’t like having the chuck marks show on the foot, although several people were impressed with how I managed to “decorate” the foot with those evenly spaced grooves 5) get more adventurous on the shape, this was a first effort so I kept it simple/easy 6) I should have centered the grain on the piece better before starting so the grain would line up better on the borrom of the bowl.
It must have turned out ok since I had my wife and oldest daughter both wanting it. The wife won and she is using it to hold her keys and phone. I’ll keep working on it. Let me know if you see other area that I could improve on.
-- Every cloud has a silver lining
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11 comments so far
tomd
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120 posts in 307 days
posted 96 days ago
Nice job, cherry always makes a great bowl. Well now you’ve done it, you are to throw all hope aside as you are being sucked into the voxtex of turning. You never forget your first bowl.
-- Tom D
Chris
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1259 posts in 528 days
posted 96 days ago
Ken,
It’s a nice first effort; I think your comfort level will grow pretty quickly once you turn a couple of more bowls. Don’t be afraid to experiment…. :)
I recently did a Cherry bowl that I used one coat of Tung Oil wet sanded followed a couple of days later by Satin Poly. I found the final result to be pleasing and durable without muddying the grain or color.
BTW I have a couple of Key & Change bowls around the house myself. ;)
-- Chris
woodyone
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223 posts in 128 days
posted 96 days ago
Brilliant bowl, especially for your first go. I have never turned cherry before myself, but it does look nice the way you have finished it.
Well done.
Woody.
-- Woody, UK
trifern
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4974 posts in 304 days
posted 96 days ago
Kenn, this is a very nice bowl for the first try. I have seen many people who have turned bowls for quite some time who have yet to accomplish one this nice. Try curving the bowl back in at the top 30% mark and keep getting the top diameter smaller each time. This will be great practice and help develop your bowl gouge skills. Over time you will develop a sense of touch and sound. I look forward to seeing more from you. Thanks for sharing.
-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.
ToddO
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71 posts in 361 days
posted 96 days ago
Nice looking bowl. I personally like the offset grain, I think a bunch of concentric grain circles look kind of boring.
-- Todd, Richfield MN
dmann
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54 posts in 344 days
posted 96 days ago
Ah you’ll never forget your first. :)
Beautiful bowl, first of many I am sure!
-- David / Durham, NC
Douglas Bordner
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2733 posts in 601 days
posted 96 days ago
I think it looks great, How big is it?
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
thetimberkid
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1684 posts in 240 days
posted 96 days ago
Great job!
Thanks for the post
Callum
-- Look great, get your TTK merchandise now! http://www.printfection.com/thetimberkid/ Check out my site http://thetimberkid.blogspot.com/
Les Hastings
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555 posts in 310 days
posted 95 days ago
Looks like a bowl from a seasoned turner Kenn, nice work!
-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)
brianinpa
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941 posts in 260 days
posted 95 days ago
Kenn, now you’ve gone and done it… How many blanks do you have, I hope there is enough for the whole family. Seriously though, I wish my first bowl had looked this good. Nice work.
-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.
kenn
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138 posts in 257 days
posted 95 days ago
Thanks for the tips. I’ll use the design and finishing pointers, you can see the results on my next bowl project. We’ll see if you guys are good teachers or if I’m a bad student.
-- Every cloud has a silver lining