# Bowl from several boards



## gwilki (May 14, 2014)

Made from off cuts of mahogany, walnut, cherry, maple and purpleheart. It is about 10" in diameter and 6" high. Finish so far is 3 coats of polymerized tung oil.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

WOW!
Excellent


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## JulianLech (Jan 13, 2011)

Looks great.


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## noblevfd (Dec 7, 2008)

great looking bowl l !!!!!!!!!!!

Bob


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## BB1 (Jan 29, 2016)

Wow…beautiful. I'm new to woodworking…how do you create the design?


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Very nice. This is the type where you glue up the strips then do the bowl from a board thing? I've never done one but my neighbor has made a few.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

That must have taken a long time waiting for all the glue to dry, but it sure looks like it was worth it.


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## gwilki (May 14, 2014)

Tks to you all for your kind comments.

BB1: Rather than try to explain the process in text, I recommend that you go onto Youtube and search on Tom Lohman. He has a very good video on the entire process. That said, I'll explain a bit. You glue up a board that is as square as you want the largest ring of your bowl to be, and a few inches thick - think side grain cutting board. Then, you re-saw that board into as many boards as your design requires. (You must have the design all worked out before you do anything with wood.) In the case of mine, that was 6 boards. Then, you cut circles from those boards, stack them, twist them and glue them. Finally you turn it. For me, the toughest part is setting out the design on paper and figuring out how to the cut the appropriate rings from each of the boards.
Rick M: I think I've answered your question in my reply to BB1.
oldnovice: You're right. There are 17 rings on this one and the top ring is a 24 segment ring. So, lots of glue and lots of time watching glue dry.
The test with these is that you do all that planning, cutting, and gluing, then you have to turn it. When all goes well, it is worth the effort. However, when you blow one up, it's hard to stay calm after all the work it took to get it to that point. Trust me, I know from first hand experience.


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## BB1 (Jan 29, 2016)

Thanks…will check on that video. Very beautiful piece. We are looking into purchasing a lathe and seeing pieces like this makes me think sooner would be better.


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## gwilki (May 14, 2014)

You can also look on dennyedwards.com. Denny is a great guy and does incredible designs. He shows how he did a "dizzy bowl". His process if a bit different thanTom's process. He also shows how he comes up with the rings sizes, and provides a spreadsheet. Using the spreadsheet means that you have a bowl with straight sides, but it is a very good way to make your first one.

IMHO, if you do get a lathe and want to turn bowls, you may want to start with bowl blanks cut from logs. Segmented bowls of any construction method are tougher to turn - and much more nerve wracking. You are dealing with glue surfaces that are very small and a small catch will quickly destroy the piece. Also, the glue line itself is much harder than the surrounding wood, so it turns much differently. It also dulls tools very quickly.


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## rhford (Aug 28, 2013)

Really nice dizzy bowl, and a great combination of woods. Well done!


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## gwilki (May 14, 2014)

Tks, Ron. If it weren't for all time spent watching glue dry, they would be a lot more fun to do. They are really a great way to use up all sorts of scraps.


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## dddddmorgan (Apr 24, 2015)

*Bows down in humble adoration*

Beautiful work!

I've picked up a dandy Record Power midi lathe and in a couple of years with lots of practice hope to be able to take on a project like this.


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## gwilki (May 14, 2014)

The beauty of these, Dan, is that you can use inexpensive or free wood off cuts. Even if you are new to turning, you can try something like this, knowing that if you blow it, you have not wasted a nice burl or fine grained blank.


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