Lidded Bowl

[Bill in Buena Park]

Still using up the camphor root - I mentioned I would do another lidded bowl, here it is, from start to finish. Finial was made from some scrap oak. Thanks for looking.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thin parting tool

And here's my version of a home-made parting tool from a 1/16 inch thick flat steel putty knife, used to part lid from bowl.

[atgcpaul]

Great job, Bill. Do you have to let the root come to EMC before you turn it all the way to this? How do you check the inside MC?

[leehljp]

Great looking bowl. Just made me envious to have a larger lathe!

[beetee3]

Sweet! Thanks for posting the pictures of the various stages. One day I'll get around to trying my hand at bowl turning.

Nice job on the parting tool, too. I love seeing the homemade turning tools because the prices of many commercial tools cause a sharp intake of breath and bring a little tear to the corner of the eye.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thanks guys. It was great working with the camphor.

Paul, I have been letting this wood sit for several months. However, it still seems a little damp internally when turning, but I have learned some interesting things about camphor:
1. It doesn't seem to check or split when drying like most other wood, even with the pith left in
2. It smells awesome (like Vick's) when turning, and always seems to have a little dampness inside, which I suspect this is largely camphor oil.
3. The damp shavings don't rust your ways (perhaps because of the camphor oil.)
4. Sanding after turning seems to release/remove most of the remaining dampness, and drying in a paper bag full of shavings doesn't take long.
5. There seems to be very little movement in the turning after finishing.

I'd heard camphor was a forgiving wood to turn, and I'd have to agree.

Hank - I likely could have turned this on my 10x18 lathe, but I keep that one set up for pens now, and I have to say that the VS (reeves) drive on the HF lathe was very handy.

BT3 - it was the retail prices of tools that pushed me to make my own carbide tools, and start looking for other tools I could make. There's a bunch of good home-made tool videos on YouTube - I'm just eating those up.

[BadeMillsap]

Beautiful work Bill. That whole turning thing is something I think about and then decide I have to invest a lot of $ to get started but it still niggles the back of my cortex!

[dangre]

>> That whole turning thing is something I think about and then decide I have to invest a lot of $ to get started but it still niggles the back of my cortex!

Since most people don't know which direction they want to take on the lathe, they buy a lot of equipment to prepare for about anything. This can be fairly expensive. Remember though, you can make a small fortune using a lathe, just start with a large fortune.

[leehljp]

since most people don't know which direction they want to take on the lathe, they buy a lot of equipment to prepare for about anything. This can be fairly expensive.

You got that right!

[gerti]

Nice bowl! What did you use for finishing?

That putty knife makes me nervous, I wonder if the transition to the handle isn't a weak spot where it could break, for example when the wood grabs during parting. And who knows what could happen then!

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thanks Bade. I don't have a fortune to invest, so am doing what I can with more affordable tools and accessories, using my home-made carbide when I can, and keeping my economy HSS sharp when I use that. Many of my chucks, etc, have come from PSI, which has kept the cost down. Not as "Easy" as some of the costly name brands - but workable, as has been proven by turners who used similar tools in the past. I started with the basics to decide what I wanted to do, and add things as I expand my areas of interest.

Gerd, thanks for the kind words. The putty knife worked ok - but let me qualify that. I only used to part half way, then sawed through the rest. Afterward, I disassembled it to see how long the tang went into the handle, and found out it went in only a little over an inch. So I epoxied it back in, and will keep it for spindle parting. I will make my next parting tool from similar gauge steel that I can make sure has much more tang in the handle.

[gerti]

Thanks Bill! What was the finish?

At some turning class they had us make thin kerf parting tools from plain old table knives. At least there you know the blade and handle are one solid piece of metal. Works well enough.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Finish is shellac-based friction polish (Shellac, BLO, and DNA in equal parts). I'm still evaluating - I may do another with plain old Wipe-on Poly.

What I like about this putty knife is that the steel is extremely rigid - more rigid than any other putty knives I've owned; don't recall where I got it. But I'd like to find similar steel plate for the next. I've entertained the "used demo blade" version seen on YouTube, but I'm not a fan of the flex in those blades...