Oak lidded bowl

[ken rodgers]

Hi All,
At our October club meeting Mark Baker demonstrated making a lidded bowl out of one blank. The lid was cut from the centre of the blank without using a bowl saver.
This is my first attempt- dimension  of bowl 250 diameter and 60 mm deep
Finished in oil
Ken

[Bryan Milham]

Okay I can go with this.

My first thought was a ladies dressing table pot, and after reading your description it still is. All that's changed is the need for a slightly taller knob to aid lifting off the lid.

The oak looks like it's had cracks and you've filled them, what do you use for that please.

[edbanger]

nice pot, I like the idea of sitting the lid inside 

Ed

[ken rodgers]

Hi Bryan,
I agree it could be called a ladies dressing table pot - it never crossed my mind.
For deep cracks I initially use bandsaw dust and CA medium glue building it up in steps to just below the finished surface. Then I complete the filling to above the surface with fine sanding dust and then sand back to level off.
For the finer cracks I use thin CA gue into the crack and rub fine sanding dust over it. Once dry apply more glue over the crack wipe off excess and sand by hand over it
I collect fine dust in small pots and always use the dust to match the wood ie oak dust on oak.
Regards
Ken

[Graham]

Being new to all this I am having a job working out how you extract the lid without a bowlsaver.

[Eric Harvey]

I use a 1/4 inch parting tool to bowlsave inner cores for future use as I don`t have a bowlsaver tool.

[ken rodgers]

I used a 1/8 inch parting tool to cut a conical shape core.
There are limitations to this method governed by depth and diameter of blank and length of parting tool.
Ken

[Graham]

I am not understanding how this can be so. I have a diamond parting tool, maybe about 3/16 thick but the actual shaft is probably  about 1 inch wide ( tall, as it is used on edge ) Surely since the grove you are making must be at an angle into a spinning circular cut the tool would be wider than the diameter of the circle would allow. i.e., it would jam. No ?

Well obviously not, but why not ?

[bodrighywood]

I am not understanding how this can be so. I have a diamond parting tool, maybe about 3/16 thick but the actual shaft is probably  about 1 inch wide ( tall, as it is used on edge ) Surely since the grove you are making must be at an angle into a spinning circular cut the tool would be wider than the diameter of the circle would allow. i.e., it would jam. No ?

Well obviously not, but why not ?

A diamond parting tool is the best one to use as only the middle of it is rubbing. You don't core with a parting tool around a bend like with the custom made ones, you cut a cone out by parting from the edge to the centre. You don't save as much wood as with the coring systems but a lot mor ethan by just turning the centre into shavings.

If anyone knows another way I am all ears LOL

Pete

[Rlewisrlou666]

If my brain is working this out properly isn't it the same process they use for mass production wooden bowls but a more crude version?

Instead of cutting a bowl within a bowl within a bowl using a curved cutter you cut out the core using the parting tool and finish later to fit the finished bowl?

If so this is Genius and very nice work,

As mentioned above a Ladies Dressing Table Pot is fitting I think it would also make a great Powder Pot and you could Glue a powder puff to the inside of the lid to make it extra useful.

Ryan

[ken rodgers]

As Pete said you do not save as much as a bowl saver, but looking at the cost of the Woodcut system at £260 using a parting tool is very cost effective.
You have to take care using this method as it is possible to jam the tool, so a fine clearance has to be made to prevent clogging etc.
Ken

[seventhdevil]

as an owner of the woodcut bowlsaver, i can't understand why everyone doesn't have one £260 or not you can save so much timber and make so many extra bowls you've made your money back in five minutes.

i was given a walnut tree that i cut about 20 large blanks from and they would have stayed 20 big bowls if it weren't for the bowl saver. in the end i more than tripled my yield of bowls at 70. even if i sold each one of the extra 50 at £10 each i've made enough to buy two bowlsavers at their current price.

this is presuming you do a fair amount of bowls but i'm willing to bet everyone will not know how they did with out one...   

[Les Symonds]

as an owner of the woodcut bowlsaver, i can't understand why everyone doesn't have one ....

Hi Steve...something I'd be interested to learn is this. Does the use of a bowlsaver stifle design? the way I see it, the bowl saver causes an internal shape that the turner has to use as a starting point. OK, all bowl-blanks give us a starting point, but the more constraints that you impose upon the turner, the less freedom he or she has to produce his or her own designs. For example, my recent batch of bowls would be impossible with a bowl-saver.


Les

[bodrighywood]

Using the parting tool to core a bowl would leave you with a central cone shaped blank that would be fine for one of the bowl like yours Les. Personally I don't do enough bowls to make the bowl saver a worthwhile investment but if, like Steve you make a lot of larger bowls it is definitely a worth while investment. Another way  have seen it used was by making sets of bowls, usually three, from highly figured wood so that each one has similar grain and figuring in it. Looked good as a set. The coring system is perhaps something I would put on my 'one day' list along with a magnum lathe, floor standing pillar drill, startrite bandsaw..................

Pete

[seventhdevil]

les, tricky one to answer but in my opinion it's all down to the thickness of the blank you cut out. if its still 1 1/2"-2" thick then you can impart any design you wish on to it really.

pete is right that nests of bowls look great together and they are usually the same sort of shape (see pic) but you can always make the mother bowl whatever shape you wish before you core it.