Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued: working on the foot

 Hi,

Well, the side of the bowl came out very well. I've sanded it to 320 grit and it's very smooth:

Ok, the next step is the foot of the bowl.

There are several ways to attach a bowl blank to a lathe-I have a face plate that I could screw on to the foot but that would leave screw holes that I would have to deal with later so that leaves a bowl chuck:

This is a large Nova chuck that I use for very wide turns. It's heavy and very solid-it's 7 pounds of steel-and it fits snugly and firmly on the bowl foot and that's what I'm going to go with:

This will give me a safe attachment and dampen some of the turning vibration that occurs with spinning large heavy blocks of wood.

It's beginning to get cold and windy so I'm going to stop for the day. I'll be back tomorrow to begin hollowing out the bowl,

 

VW

 

 

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued-shaping the side

 Hi Everyone,

Well I just came in from examining the bowl on the lathe and there are several considerations here:

First-the volume of the bowl. I've wanted to preserve as much of the volume of the blank as possible. Salad bowls are typically large and deep so a salad can be tossed easily without the contents spilling out. This bowl will be a little under 21/2" deep which is not very deep. But the width is just around 13" at this point so that should mitigate the shallowness of the bowl. 

Second-Salad bowls are also typically very eye catching. If you go to Pinterest and search for wooden salad bowls you'll see some really gorgeous bowls in a variety of woods with all sorts of detail turned into the sides. This bowl is solid maple and has very little in the way of visible grain pattern. But the color is a soft white which is unusual for a salad bowl so I think it needs a little detail to catch the eye. As I don't like adding details to bowls that stand out from the surface (and which can break off if dropped) I'm going to add a band to the upper part of the bowl that is depressed from the surface.

I'm going down to the wood shop a little later on to work on the side. When I'm done I'll do another posting about the foot.

See you later,

VW

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued-shaping the underside of the bowl

 Good Evening All,
I've been down in the wood shop for an hour shaping the underside of the bowl. Here's some photos and discussion:

This is the bowl on the lathe. I began by truing up the bottom and part of the side. I like to begin by turning away wood on the side diagonally instead of approaching it straight on. It reduces the amount of damaged wood fibers  and pitting to almost nothing as opposed the tear out you can get by trying to cut it straight across. It's also easier on my hands:

Here's a side view after a couple of minutes. The bottom is beginning to round off a bit:

This photo was taken about 30 minutes later. I used a scraper across the surface to smooth it. I also cleaned up the foot of the bowl too.

Here is the bowl after about an hour of turning. The rim is finished and all the surfaces are smooth from scraping:

 I'm going to stop here for now.

The next important part is the foot of the bowl. Not only will it provide a place for the bowl to sit on but it also will be the attachment point for the lathe when I flip the bowl over for hollowing. And it has to look nice as well as it will give the rest of the project a nice professional look to it. If I decide to add any detail to the outside surface, this will be the time to do it. 

Once I finish the underside I'll sand it perfectly smooth and apply a coat of polyurethane to it, let it dry, and then flip it over.

 Stay tuned,
VW

 

Pizza Cutter with Ebony Handle

 Hi Everyone,

While I've been getting ready for the maple bowl project, I completed a much needed project for my daughter-in-law: a small pizza cutter.

Her son, my grandson, has difficulty managing large slices of pizza, which is also his favorite food in the whole world. To deal with this, my daughter-in-law is tasked with having to cut pizza slices down to small pieces, which restaurants never seem willing to do. It can be difficult to cut up food with a knife and fork.

So I offered to make her a pizza cutter she could take with her when they all go out for dinner.

Woodcraft sells pizza cutter inserts in two sizes. I got her the 2 1/2" diameter cutter so it would fit into her bag. I also wanted to maker her something special so I used a piece of ebony from my wood pile for a handle and finished it with flax seed oil.

Here are a couple of photos:

In this photo you can see the entire handle. I turned a depression into the top of the handle to give her thumb a places to rest while she's cutting the pizza:

I also rounded off the bottom so it doesn't dig into her hand:

And the kit comes with a brass insert so the pizza wheel can be removed if it's ever damaged or for cleaning:

And here is the whole thing assembled and with an oil finish on the handle:

And now my grandson can eat his favorite snack anywhere!

 Ok, as it's really cold and rainy outside I'm going to go out and get the maple turning blank ready to be mounted on the lathe.

See you all soon,
VW

Small Turned Boxes-One finished, the other is on the lathe

Good Morning All,

I've got some photos for you - the small turned boxes! One is finished and another one is just getting started on the lathe.

Enjoy the photos:

This is the hickory box from several days ago. I sanded it to 400 grit and finished it with polyurethane. It is going to be a gift box for Mother's Day.

Here is the next box. This is part of a tree branch from a pile of tree trimmings I came across. I like the look of the end grain so I took several of them back to the shop, cut one of them to size, and started turning in.
It's going to have a goblet-shaped box with a nearly invisible base. In the photo you can see the cream colored white sap wood and the darker heart wood together, along with a couple of knots. The wood is damp so I'm going to be turning it slowly to let the water inside evaporate slowly so the wood doesn't crack. When I'm done hollowing it out, I'll make a lid for it so stay tuned:

The surface looks like it's torn and it is as wet wood doesn't always turn cleanly.

So stay tuned, there's more to come.

VW

ALERT-Delta Midi Lathe on-off switch question

 Hello All,

I got an email message this afternoon re the on-off switch on Delta Midi lathes. Years ago when I still had a Delta lathe the switch on mine wore out and I replaced it. What I don't remember, and what today's email is about, is how to remove the switch. 

The manual for this lathe is not at all helpful so I'm appealing to you guys-if you own one of these lathes and have replaced the switch, how did you accomplish this?

Please send me your reply and I'll post the answer here.

Thanks, 

VW

The Hard Maple Salad Bowl Project-Discussion and Plans

 Hi Everyone,

Well, we have several days of warm weather ahead so I'm down in the wood shop gearing up for another project. This time I'll be making a salad bowl out of hard maple.

Discussion

About a month ago I was out and about shopping for wood at Forest Wood Products and they had a lovely piece of hard maple that I couldn't resist. It's about 14" wide and 20" long and 4" thick. It has a lovely even color to it and it's perfect for turning.

My husband also has a wonderful friend who was a professional educator and who also retired last summer. She and her husband, who is also retired, deserve a present after many years of hard work so they're getting a bowl that I hope they find useful.

 Plans

First of all, I've trimmed the maple block down to a square 13 1/2" x 13 1/2". Then I took a scrap piece of maple that is about 6" x 6" square and 1" thick and centered it on one of the faces of the block and glued it down:

By doing this I won't have to create a foot for the bowl out of the block of wide, which would involve sacrificing some of the volume of the bowl.

Then I weighted it down. I don't have any clamps what would work for this so I took the whole thing upstairs and weighted it down with some cast iron cookware. It's presently sitting on my dining room table:

 

I always knew this would come in handy.

Next, when this is dry, I'll take it downstairs, cut off the corners, mount it on the lathe and get going on it. I'm still not sure of the ultimate shape it will take but I have a few days to think about this.

And when it's done, I'll give it a couple of coats of General Finishes salad bowl finish and then it will be done.

 So, we're off on another adventure in the wood shop!

Stay tuned,

VW