Formula for cutting logs for bowl blanks.

[windfall]

Is there a sort of formula for cutting logs into bowl blanks? I was thinking along the lines of width of log to length along the grain to optimise the use of the wood.

[Bryan Milham]

The full answer to your question would honestly fill a book.
The short answer is 'Don't cut a tree trunk into rings.'

Here is a quick picture to show how a log should be segmented to make blanks.

[Derek]

Have a look at THIS it may help with how to cut logs and the type of turning that you can get from logs

[Twisted Trees]

It will depend on the function, For making bulk bowls for functional use then there are ways of extracting more bowls per log, both covered in the 2 answers above mine, but for making bowls that are singular and more form than function wood wastage is a part of the plan as you are only looking for the pattern you wish to portray. Straight grain efficiency in my opinion is best left for the industrial machine, hand turners excel when the chosen piece of timber is difficult, frustrating, and has a high risk of failure, best results are when only a fellow wood turner will understand how many  hours it took to achieve the apparent simplicity of the finished piece.

[windfall]

Thanks for the help guys, I think I'll cut and stack it upright and seal the ends as advised in my other thread. Although my lathe is capable of handling huge bowls I'm no way near skilled enough to utilize it. Maybe in a year or two  I'll make good use of it.

[onetruth]

Have a look at THIS it may help with how to cut logs and the type of turning that you can get from logs

Thanks for the link, these are really nice.  What book is it from?

[willstewart]

As a thought - logs are often 'green' (that is wet and undried).  You can turn them like this, though the resulting pieces will distort as they dry, sometimes quite a lot (can be a nice effect).  If you are going to keep the log to dry it may be a good idea to split it in two axially - this way it is less likely to split further.

[Derek]

Have a look at THIS it may help with how to cut logs and the type of turning that you can get from logs

Thanks for the link, these are really nice.  What book is it from?

Not from a book, it is a PDF that I found  but I found it very useful when I started I even look at occasionally now

[Mark Hancock]

Have a look at THIS it may help with how to cut logs and the type of turning that you can get from logs

Thanks for the link, these are really nice.  What book is it from?

It was published in a book called "Woodturning in North America Since 1930" in 2001. The book accompanied an exhibition of the same name curated by the Woodturning Centre and Yale University Art Gallery.

[windfall]

That's exactly what I was looking for thanks