The process starts with what sometimes can be the most difficult part for me, coming up with an idea of what pattern or design I want. A lot of time and thought goes in to that part. I could spend hours looking at galleries of other turners, looking at art pictures, and sometimes just sitting on the porch thinking.
Once I have an idea of what I want, the next part of the process is selecting the different woods I want to use. The things I take in to consideration when selecting the woods in the design are, the contrasting colors of the woods, and availability. I cut the wood up in to the lengths I need and plane them to the right thickness.
In the design process, I determine how many segments are needed, and how many rings in the bowl. The number of segments is determined by the design I come up with. As a rule for me, I stay with even numbers of segments, ranging from six to as many as 24 segments per ring. I do all my segment cutting with a Ridged 12-inch miter saw with a 100-tooth blade. That makes for a very smooth cut that requires very little sanding. Most of my bowls have had 12 segments per ring, and anywhere from 4 to 10 rings.
Since gluing the segments together takes the longest time in the bowl construction, I will cut just the segments I need to make that ring. I will begin gluing the segments together to make a half ring. This process will be repeated for as many rings as I am going to use in that bowl.
After the half rings have had time to set up (usually about 2 hours), I will sand square the ends of the half rings and glue them together to make a full ring. I will set these rings aside to allow the glue to set up completely, which most of the time is over night.
The next step is to sand the rings flat. I have mounted a flat piece of particleboard to my faceplate of my lathe and use two-sided tape to mount the ring to the board. With the lathe at slow speed, I use a sanding board to flatten the ring. If the ring is really bad, I will use a gouge to true it up, and then a sanding board.
I start the assembly process when all of the rings are flat. I glue the rings in place one ring at a time to make sure they are aligned properly. Depending on the size or depth of the bowl, I may rough turn the inside of the bowl. If the bowl is deep, it is easier to turn the inside in stages. Just make sure you have enough thickness left to handle turning the rest of the bowl. I will usually turn to about a half inch of the desired thickness of my finished bowl.
With all the rings glued in place and the inside rough turned, I start turning the outside of the bowl. This is where the design comes together. You can start seeing if the days of cutting segments and gluing are going to pay off. I turn the outside of the bowl to the shape for which I am looking, or I should say, “hoping”. Sometimes what I want a bowl to look like and what it actually comes out looking like are not quite the same. I may find a bad spot in the wood and have to cut a little deeper. And sometime I get an “Oh S$$$”. My gouge will catch a little too much and the whole shape of the bowl will change. Sometimes I just let the bowl decide what it wants to look like. After I am happy with the outside, I turn my attention back to the inside. I turn the inside until I get the thickness I feel comfortable with. In smaller bowls, the wall thickness can be quite thin. As a rule for me, the bigger the bowl, the thicker the wall.
I love to pick up a bowl and have it feel light and fragile.
I do not skip any steps in the sanding. Sanding will determine what your finished bowl will look like. And trust me, when you apply your finish you will see every imperfection.
The finishing step is next. So far all my bowls have been finished with MinWax paste wax. I apply the wax while the bowl is still on the lathe. I will put on a coat of wax, give it a few minutes to dry, and with a fresh cloth buff the bowl. If I have made any mistakes in my sanding, they show up now and I can re-sand if necessary. When I am happy with the look, I will apply a second coat of wax and buff to a high shine.
Almost done now, but on to the most dangerous step (as far as possibly destroying your creation), parting the bowl from the lathe. I have lost many a bowl doing this. It is not a procedure I try to rush through. I will take my time and let my parting tool do the work.
After the bowl is parted from the lathe, I reverse chuck the bowl and clean up the bottom of the bowl. I sand the bottom just as I did the rest of the bowl, but before I finish it I will brand it with my logo. Two coats of wax, remove the bowl from the lathe, a little hand polishing, and there you have it. A piece of which to be proud!
