18 March 2011

Making Wood Bowls

I finally got a lathe, it's a Craftsman 15" benchtop with variable speed. I bought it from my neighbor who also turns bowls.


It all starts with a bowl blank. This is a piece of birch that is ready to be turned. Any hard wood and some soft woods will work.


After about 45 minutes, the bowl is roughed out like this. When roughing a bowl, you have to leave about 10% of the final bowl size to allow for drying. When drying it can warm and checker (crack).



Here are a few bowls that I have turned on my lathe so far. Next I want to make serving platters, cups and goblets.