A couple of recent bowls for critique.....

[Kalimna]

Greetings folks,
I think this might be my first post in the this section of the forum, so please be kind
After having the lathe out of use for over a year through our house move, I have warmed up by turning a few bowls. Although ive had the lathe for a few years now, I still consider myself firmly in the beginner category and would welcome any critique you may have.
There isnt much to say about them, except that they are bowls, finished with a coat of cellulose sealer and then microcrystaline wax. The coloured bowl was an attempt at something a little different, and although it isnt what I had in mind the spirit stains have come out not too badly. It also has the internal curvature I am most happy with of *any* bowl I have made - it is almost hemispherical, but tricky to see in the photos. I would like to say that the finish is straight off the tool, but I would be lying - a lot of sanding was done....

So, have a gander, and any suggestions etc are welcomed. Oh, and have a guess at the timbers - I havent listed them purposefully

Cheers,
Adam

 

[Dalboy]

I like the shape of the first bowl flows nicely, is that a foot on the bottom where there is a line running around.

The second again with this I like the idea of the coloured bands and the shape is ideal to be able to see them, however the inside I would have either liked to see it completely black or left in its natural wood colour

The last one the outer shape is good needs some work on the final cuts and finishing. Also the inside shape I would have liked it to follow the outer shape as it looks like it does not in the photo.

These are only my personal preferences

On the whole considering that you don't normally do lathe work on a regular basis you have done well and I look forward to seeing more

 

[KimG]

First bowl (which is the better of the set) is Olive Ash. The outer curve looks pretty good, the use of an internal expanding jaw for chucking though means you have to leave a fairly heavy base to avoid going through or leaving it too thin, it's better to have an external tenon, then you can do as Dalboy suggests and work on getting the inside of the bowl to flow as well as the outside, you want a good continuous curve, not necessarily an exact follow of the outer, but it should appear that way. For really good help with bowl design and what makes a good bowl, read Richard Raffan's books on the subject, they are very good indeed.

Nice to see you have not been daunted by the use of colour, you can do some nice things with that if you get a bit more adventurous.

I am not sure what wood the third bowl is, looks a bit like cherry but lacks any obvious features.

 

[woodfarmer]

Not that my opinion is worth anything, but to me that first bowl is lovely. Nice shape that really flows. I like to see a heavy base as in my view it makes a bowl more stable and hence more functional. For me the first priority always is that anything must work as it should. If it looks good also that is a bonus.

Everything I make is functional but seldom pretty. It so happens sometimes when I make a bowl without too many defects the wood can shine through and it looks good also. That's the only "artistic" thing I can do.

well done.

 

[woodpig]

Bowl two looks very nice, love the colours. I don't like the foot on bowl one though.

Many turners are critical of seeing how a bowl was originally held, for example by an internal dovetail. I don't mind but it should either be complete or removed entirely. Perhaps it's the picture but I can't see exactly what you've done on the base of bowl number one.

 

[Kalimna]

Many thanks for your comments, as it happens they generally match with my own thoughts. I think the biggest issue is perhaps the use of an expanding chuck on the base, as I am very aware of cutting through, hence the relative thickness of the bowls' base. Would an appropriate thing to do to attach a secondary block of wood which is then wholly removed, so as not to lose any of the 'bowl wood'?
To slightly clarify, I have attempted to have a flat area around the base mortice to provide stability, without making a foot, as such.
Regarding the colour, I agree that pure black would have been better (and was exactly what I was aiming for), but for some reason the stain would take to give a dense colour. I will try again with a pigment finish rather than a stain.
The last bowl I agree the internal surface should have flowed better, but to be honest I was beginning to get frustrated (it's a fairly dense, brittle, prone to tearout, dust laden timber) and decided to take it no further and have a piece at the end rather than a few fragments lying on the floor!
The bowls are indeed ash, sycamore and the last is afromosia, having finished it's previous life as a lab workbench.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[woodpig]

There are a number of ways of removing the foot if that's what you want to do. Button jaws are an obvious choice or you could make a longworth chuck.

http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2010/10 ... rth-chuck/