couple of new efforts

[poolhound]

One thing I can be sure of about turning is that it sure makes a lot of sawdust. The nice thing about turning is that you can go from raw material to finished item pretty quickly. I have been experimenting and here are outcomes from today. Lots of issues and much practice still needed.

The small bowl is in mesquites and I ended up going through the bottom. The platter is in poplar.

Getting a smooth finish free of tool marks appears to be a challenge. Even after sanding I can still se some marks. And dealing with the end grain - DANG :-( what is the secret?

[LCHIEN]

Put a few more holes in that one you went through the bottom and call it a colander.

[capncarl]

It looks like the one with the hole was destin to be with that knot there.

[leehljp]

Having a senior moment here for the right terminology, but turn a piece of walnut or contrasting wood as a flared out base, but hollow out enough on the top side to fit snuggly to the bottom of the bowl. Glue together and turn the bottom of the holey bowl to reveal the contrasting wood; then tell everyone it was designed that way!

[eccentrictinkerer]

My neighbor, Layne Kennedy, sometimes uses a mixture of epoxy and turquoise dust/granules to fill voids.



The link below shows some more of his work. Layne is a well known nature photographer, too.

http://www.laynekennedy.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=23

[Bill in Buena Park]

One thing I can be sure of about turning is that it sure makes a lot of sawdust. The nice thing about turning is that you can go from raw material to finished item pretty quickly. I have been experimenting and here are outcomes from today. Lots of issues and much practice still needed.

The small bowl is in mesquites and I ended up going through the bottom. The platter is in poplar.

Very nice work Jon, you're off to a great start. Hank's recommendation may be the best option to save the bowl, especially if the bottom is now too thin. For small holes and cracks, I use either saw dust or coffee grounds to fill, saturated with thin CA.

Getting a smooth finish free of tool marks appears to be a challenge. Even after sanding I can still se some marks. And dealing with the end grain - DANG :-( what is the secret?

This will come with experience, but I find that very light passes with a very sharp scraper held in shear position will get most tool marks. Check out this Reed Gray video where he demonstrates finish cuts. He uses various tools, but starting at 9:30, he demonstrates shear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x2qQDNL9BQ

For sanding, I use the 2 inch disks, either in my HF RA drill (powered), or my HF RA die grinder (unpowered) and use all the grits up to ~600, making sure all scratches from each disk are removed by the next. Starting grit will vary by how bad the tear-out or tool marks are, for most of my soft wood with tear-out I start at 100.

[gerti]

I am with eccentrictinkerer, celebrate the hole! After all, that was natures work. Blowing out a knot does not officially count as going through the bottom. At least not in my book. And I HAVE gone through the bottom. Lovely grain on that mesquite. And the platter is rather nice as well. I like the shapes you picked.

Bill's advice is spot on, sharp tools, a very light cut and a lot of practice are needed for a nice finish off the tool that needs very little sanding. But there is no shame in sanding. The first pass with the roughest paper is the most important, it has to remove ALL tool marks. The starting grit depends on the wood and orientation, for endgrain it needs to be a tad finer because even sandpaper can cause tear-out. I have never used a power tool in addition to the spinning lathe, but others swear by it. In any case once the tool marks are gone, progress through the grits until all marks from the previous grit are gone. For some woods I like to finish off by kicking up the RPMs and using clean shavings to burnish the surface.

[Pappy]

Love the grain in the Mesquite bowl. Shame you can't plug it where the knot is and smooth out the bottom.

[poolhound]

Thanks everybody for all the comments and encouragement. At this point I am such a newbie to turning I am just experimenting to see how the different tools and techniques work.That plus learning how to cut logs to create blanks and how the different grain orientations plays into how the wood turns, not to mention green vs seasoned wood or the dangers of the dreaded PITH, its a very steep curve!

I have used the epoxy (or CA) and turquoise inlay method on some tables before so thats a good idea. I also like the idea of adding some contrasting wood to the bottom. Not sure what I will do with this little bowl as I have plenty more of the mesquite. It grows all over the place here and you can pretty much bet you can collect a bunch of logs every summer when the monsoon brings down trees around most neighborhoods. They also grow so prolifically that you can be sure to find plenty through local arborists.

If anybody here would like some I can happily send some to you for the cost of shipping. It would not be hard to fill one of those large flat rate boxes with either a few small blanks or one large one. Let me know and I can go cut up a log :-)

On the tool marks and sanding issue I know I have lots of practice to do here both with turning and sharpening. One question that I have is with sharpening and is one grit better than the other and for which tools. I have the rikon slow speed grinder with 60 and 120 grit wheels. As I understand it some tools need an edge and some a burr. I can certainly get a very useable tool direct from the 60 grit wheel but should I be using the 120 grit. All very confusing anybody have any clear input here?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Jon, I use the same grinder with the same wheels. I use the 60 grit for shaping (like turning a standard bowl gouge in to a swept-back grind), and the 120 grit wheel for re-sharpening everything else. Shouldn't take more than a light pass on the 120-grit wheel to bring an edge back to most tools. Scrapers will want a slight burr, but that is a result of the sharpening. Nothing too large, or it is too fragile and won't last long.

[Two Much]

I think it all the bowls look great. We have a store here called Home Goods, they sell a lot
of turned bowls and many of them have big holes in them. And, they are quite pricy too.