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Once turned bowls

Joined
Mar 19, 2016
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Location
Haubstadt, Indiana
I have never done once turned bowls. I have some wet cherry and would like to try, but not sure of the process. Cherry may not be a good wood to do this though. So how do you process once turned bowls?
 

Randy Anderson

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May 25, 2019
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Eads, TN
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candrwoodworks.com
I do all my natural edge once turned but not traditional so interested to see how it goes. I know Robo does his traditional once turned. I'm working through a huge stock of black cherry I picked up last week and would like to do some traditional and other items out of it as well. My experience is it doesn't move a lot compared to other woods and isn't that prone to cracking. Since I have so much of it now I'll give it a try.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2019
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Location
Bashaw, Alberta
I turn them to final thickness, then depending on the finishing cut I may sand it wet with 80 or 120. Depending on species and time of year I'll either toss it on a shelf or put it in a paper bag for a couple of weeks.. I don't usually turn the tenon off because I use the chuck to hold the bowl for hand sanding after a couple of weeks of drying. Then I use a friction drive to turn off the bottom sand and finish.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
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Location
Lebanon, Missouri
Most any wood can be used for 1 turn. I mainly use domestic hardwoods - oak, walnut, cherry, osage orange. Usually 2 turn rimmed bowls but they can be 1 turn. All the natural edge bowls I do are 1 turn - doesnt matter that the edge convolutes during drying.

As to process, turn to final thickness, 1/8” to 3/8” depending on size, consistent wall thickness. No sanding of wet wood for me. I get the best possible surface I can with sheer scraping and NRS. I leave the tenon on for mounting the dried bowl, but I turn it down. After watching some Ellsworth videos, I changed my approach with tenons, making them much larger, and using his bottom shoulder cut method. Seems to help maintain wall stability better.

1. Rough out the blank OD and shape OD between centers and create the tenon
2. Chuck mount, finish cut OD
3. Cut nested bowls if planned
4. Hollow and finish cut ID
5. Flip and jam chuck mount. Form foot/bottom from shoulder/tenon, form new small tenon (only used to sand and finish the dried piece, usually 2” or smaller). Reduces amount of wood to dry.
6. Dry - plastic wrap rim, put in kraft paper bag, ID with s/n and weight, put on drying rack. (Plastic appears to reduce rim distortion some)
7. Dried item (weight not changing over several days) mounted in chuck combination of slow lathe speed or hand turning sanding with drill
8. Apply finish, buff, etc as needed, on/off the lathe.
9. Jamb chuck the finished piece to remove tenon
10. Sand, ID, sign, and finish the bottom

By jamb chuck I mean one of several shapes that somewhat fit the ID form, with a piece of leather in between. Perhaps “friction chuck” is a better description.
 
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hockenbery

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Apr 27, 2004
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Lakeland, Florida
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www.hockenberywoodturning.com
I have never done once turned bowls. I have some wet cherry and would like to try, but not sure of the process. Cherry may not be a good wood to do this though. So how do you process once turned bowls?
once you get the hand of it these are great fun.

on the first few cut your blank 2” longer than wide. This will be a nice oval bowl that is easy to turn because of the openness. The deeper than wide bowls try after you get comfortable on the wide ones. The elegant bowls but Burt Marsh and Jerry Kermode are deep shapes to emutate.


Fresh Cherry is great for NE bowls because of the white sap ring.

i finish turn the bowls, dry for a day or 2, sand, apply finish.
most of my bowls are done with round bottoms- surprisingly stable.

I have a video of a demo where I turn a NE from a crotch. Everything I’d do on half log NE bowls is the same except for for aligning the 4 rims Instead of 2. Also a video of turning the outside of a Cherry NE bowl.
these may give you some insights

RoughingNEoutside - quick overview - 3.5 minutes about a 10” Cherry bowl
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ0fC5Rk6h4



NaturalEdgeCrotchBowl demo
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVoI12Kfug
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 28, 2021
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Location
Roulette, PA
Speak of the devil!.. I just turned my first natural edge in a piece of wet cherry... Basically cut the 7 inch or so log down the middle and chuck the bark side in headstock to turn tenon and foot, and turn a bowl profile, reverse chuck and carefully sneak up to wall thickness (being cherry I didn't dare go any thinner I was afraid of losing the bark) and turn your inside.. I did sand the outside as soon as I had the profile done... The trouble comes if you are not really fast at turning your bowls.. they will warp right on the lathe as you go along.. so what was round just 5 minutes ago may no longer be round, so a little advance planning is needed.. This one was finished in tried & true at first then after I had it completed, I just gave it a top coat of wipe on poly.. (It isn't gonna be anything you'd keep food in,, IMHO)
 

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Joined
Nov 22, 2009
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Location
Midland, MI
One thing I'll add about traditional (cut rim) bowls that are once turned: the bowls will shrink and distort differently depending on how the blanks are cut from the log. This affects how the bowl will look when it is dry.

If you orient the blank for the largest possible bowl, so the rim of the bowl is toward the center of the tree, you will get the "smile" orientation of growth rings when you look at the end grain of the bowl when it's sitting on the table. And when the bowl dries, the wood shrinks more tangentially (parallel to the rings) than radially (perpendicular to the rings). The smile flattens a bit into a grin if you will. The result is that the rim of the dried bowl will not be flat. It will have a peak on the rim at the point nearest to where the pith is (on the end grain part of the bowl).

If you orient the blank so the rim of the bowl is toward the outside of the tree, same as you would for a natural edge bowl, the growth rings are in the "rainbow" orientation. When the bowl is dry, there is a slight depression in the rim at the end grain part of the bowl instead of a peak.

I very much prefer how the bowls look with the rainbow orientation. I like the shape of the rim, the grain pattern inside the bowl and the appearance of the sap wood better. But you should try some yourself to see what you think. The big downside is that you will get smaller bowls from a given log with the rainbow orientation.

Hope that made sense and is helpful.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
103
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114
Location
Springdale, Arkansas
Website
www.copassawmill.com
I helped teach a 5 day turning class a few years ago. We probably turned 40 bowls out of green cherry and maple. Most were cherry. All were turned to something less than 3/8" wall thickness and most were microwave dried than finished. Lots of warping but no cracks.

I have often taken wood from a standing tree into a finished bowl in one day. Don't try this with oak.
 
Joined
May 4, 2010
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Location
Bozeman, MT
I'm not an expert at this, so I'm still learning lessons the hard way. One thing I've discovered that is pretty important is to work quickly. The wood will move while you're turning, and if you're slow, you'll always be turning on an unround blank. Spraying periodically with water can help. Having enough gouges so you don't have to stop and sharpen also helps. You'll probably do better than I have, but it can be a bit discouraging at first, though your speed and ease get better in time.
 

Randy Anderson

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May 25, 2019
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191
Location
Eads, TN
Website
candrwoodworks.com
Must be the season for cherry. I turned 3 13" natural edge yesterday. I have a lot more to get to. You many already know but one thing I do is set my wall thickness and commit to it after the first inch in on the inside. Then as you progress inward use a NR scraper to clean it up and then go further in. Like you found, some can move a LOT during the process and even if they move a little you can't come back to the top with a gouge and fix it. I start with a spur drive and once I finish the bottom, tenon and foot done and cleaned up with a NR scraper, I don't go back to the bottom with tools.
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
703
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531
Location
Haubstadt, Indiana
I helped teach a 5 day turning class a few years ago. We probably turned 40 bowls out of green cherry and maple. Most were cherry. All were turned to something less than 3/8" wall thickness and most were microwave dried than finished. Lots of warping but no cracks.

I have often taken wood from a standing tree into a finished bowl in one day. Don't try this with oak.
Larry. What is your microwave formula for the bowls?
 
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
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Location
Eugene, OR
My specialty.... So, for most woods, I will turn down to 1/4 inch thick or thin walls. Some woods that are more stable you can leave a bit thicker, but woods that are more crack prone need to be down to 3/16 or so, but I never measure. Generally I have found that woods that have the spring sap running will crack less than late summer or winter harvested trees. This may not be true for some woods, but for Pacific Madrone, my favorite, this is true. I do use a recess on all of my bowls. If you get metal stains, a few drops of concentrated lemon juice, as soon as it comes off the lathe will get rid of the stain in seconds. If you wait a day or two, it can take longer, and it can bleach the wood. You have to take care with tools and hands after sharpening because you have metal dust on them. I wipe both hands and freshly sharpened tools with wet shavings so my bowls don't get metal dust freckles. Make sure to round over your rims. With most woods, I will wrap the rim with stretch film. I don't do this with maple, which has lots of sugar in it, and it will mold under the plastic. I start them drying on the concrete floor where it is cooler. I move them up onto a wire rack after 3 or 4 days. they are dry enough to sand out in a week max, even here in the Pacific North Wet. To mount them for sanding, I have one chuck with those extended finger jaws on them. You have to wiggle the recess around a bit to get all 4 jaws to seat in the recess. I do not tighten up very much, only enough to hold it for sanding. You don't need the grip for sanding that you do for turning. I sand at as slow of a speed as I can, which is max 15 rpm, and slower if you can get it. This way you can keep the abrasives on the bowl as it spins. Impossible to do at 50 rpm. I also made an 'articulated arm for sanding' (there is a video on that), which has become essential for this type of bowl sanding. The articulated arm takes all of the weight of the sander so all you have to do is squeeze the trigger. This makes it possible for the other hand to slowly spin the bowl for sanding. I never bothered with the microwave. It takes too much time and they do dry so quickly. I figure they are dry enough to sand in 3 or 4 days, weather depending. I tried wet sanding a few times, and just found that to be too messy, and not as fast as dry sanding. The only exception here is if I am doing more of a vase form out of wet burl. When that dries, it has a very 3D type of surface, which is essential to the final 'feel' of the form, so I wet sand it to maybe 320, apply some wipe on poly, and let it dry. Then more poly and one of the synthetic steel wool pads on my sander. The more they warp, the better I like them. People love the 'organic' shape of warped bowls. Oh, they never sit flat on a table. Not sure if I would use a tenon. The main problem with using a tenon is that it leaves a much thicker area of wood in the form when drying, and that thickness can add drying stress, and as we all know, drying stress is relieved by cracking...

robo hippy
 
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