Expert to Beginner

New Project Poplar Bowl Discussion and Plans

Hi Everyone,

My buddy of mine  and I are cooking up something for a friend who is really special. Here is the story behind this:

We have a friend who is a professional therapist and she works with people who have experienced torture in their lives. As you can imagine she  probably hears a lot of terrible stories about the experiences these people have endured and her job cant be an easy one.

I for one applaud her efforts and I think she should be recognized for all she does and so does Pat, so Pat has commissioned a bowl from me and Im going to be blogging about this over the next week or so.

Discussion and Plans

I have a 10"x4" mineral stained poplar bowl blank that I ordered over a year ago from Turning Blanks 4U that I began turning earlier this week. I told Pat about it and she has asked me to finish turning it for Susan.

Here are the initial photos:

The next two photos show the rough blank. It was coated in wax to prevent its drying out and they look pretty terrible in this state!



The blank has dried out some over time so its no longer round in shape but more of an oval. Im putting it on the lathe between centers because its not balanced and it is safer to turn it this way. Not to mention easier on my equipment:


Ive begun turning the bottom in this photo:


After several minutes of turning you can see that the bowl sides are trued up and round again. In this photo you can see the beginnings of a rim:


Now you can see the rim more sharply:


Time to create a foot. Since this will be used as a salad bowl, it needs a wider than usual foot so it wont be tippy when its used:


And here is a profile view of the blank. Note the wide rim that will be narrowed down a little later:


Here is a side-view photo of the blank off of the lathe:


Wood shavings anyone?

Here is the bowl blank back on the lathe. Ive trued up the face and Im getting ready to hollow it out:


Since it was hot, I decided to stop and begin again tomorrow:


The wood in this blank is dry so the turn should proceed quickly tomorrow.

When the bowl if completely hollowed out, Ill leave it for several days for the fibers to settle down and to see if any cracking develops. If it doesnt, then Ill go ahead and apply a finish.

See you tomorrow,

VW