Advice on how I could have done better please

[Wood4me]

I completed this walnut bowl yesterday trying out a ‘galleried’ base idea I had been pondering on. I had predicted the weak area of short grain on the edge of the base and inlaid a strip of bamboo in a groove before hollowing out the base . This basically worked as reinforcement. However I found it really difficult to hollow out the deepest vee part of the base. The curved underside of the bowl wasn’t too bad but the deepest part turning outwards was what I found difficult to get the right position/ tool angle etc,
You can see I caught the edge and cracked the gallery completely off.
I always try and recover from a mistake so went for a bit of Kintsugi!
Any tips please on turning in that tight confined recessed vee ?

 

[Ollie78]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[scooby]

Agreed..looks good.

 

[Stigmorgan]

What tools do you have available to you?

 

[Sachakins]

Did you drill the gallery holes before turning or after?

Still looks good and a brilliant idea too

 

[Wood4me]

Hmmmm I drilled them first which maybe wasn’t wise,
The only tool I could use in that awkward part was 3mm wide bowl gouge, but had to make a bespoke tool rest to work from .

 

[Richard_C]

Looks good nice design, new to me. I wonder if....

I can see that it's useful to drill the holes before you hollow, but would it work if you drilled small pilot holes for position then finished to size after hollowing? Leaves it stronger while you do the difficult work.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

A detail gouge would probably be best to get into the corners and a bowl gouge for the rest.
It may look better if the outer curve was continued past the gallery to the centre of the base rather than there being a step. That may also make it easier to clean up the transition between the two.
Also, turn the inner and outer parts before cutting the holes in the gallery so you keep it's strength throughout the turning process.

 

[Wood4me]

Thanks Paul, can you sketch your suggested ‘curve’ please

 

[Bob Chapman]

I think Paul means that the curve on the upper outside of the bowl and the curve of the bowl bottom inside the gallery should look as if they are part of the same continuous curve ‘passing through’ the gallery wall…and I agree with him.

 

[Wood4me]

Yep got the thinking and totally agree. The whole base design was a complete afterthought so couldn’t totally get the ‘flow thru’ look and the holes of larger enough to ‘open it up’ to see through. So had to accept the line flowing with the upper section.