Finishing Natural Edge Bowls

[hpl]

I made a 2 or 3 bowls a while back from yew, turned from the log so that they had the natural edge of the log left at the top and a few holes in them. They came up well but took a lot of hand sanding to finish them. Also they were hard to get a reasonable finish from the tools because of the bits that were 'missing' causing the tools to bounce in and out and give an uneven cut.

I don't turn very much of this sort of thing, mostly spindle work, but just wondering what different people do to finish items that can't be sanded with the lathe running, and any tips on cutting smoothly when there are pieces 'missing' ie holes or the natural edge.

Johnny B

 

[cornucopia]

hello, the main thing is not to push with the gouge, some people put a bit of card behind the bowl so that they can see the ghost image, i find its more to do with repetition,an extremley sharp edge and keeping a gentle touch on the gouge, sanding is a pain and i use a mix of power sanding and hand sanding with the lathe off.

 

[Bodrighy]

Hi,

I am sure that there are various ways but as a fair bit of the stuff I turn is odd shapes here's what I do.

I find that with Yew I can get a pretty good finish before sanding by gently shear scraping with a gouge. Try and see how little you can shave off. If you are careful you can get a cut that is almost as good as one of those fancy planes the flatworkers rave about.

Where possible, to finish, I turn the lathe down to a slow speed and use aabranet that I present to the wood in the palm of my hand holding the net with my thumb on my palm. If it catches it gets pulled from your hand and no harm done. This works fine for surfaces that aren't too badly off centre or jagged as long as you don't press too hard. Keep your finger tips away, just the flat of your palm. Where it is really off centre or jagged I use either a power sander (grip a disc) with the wood stationary but still on the lathe or do it by hand. Don't try and use a power sander with the wood spinning if the holes are really large or if there are big protrusions. The drill can catch and it could be dangerous.

These are all yew and were done with the sanding



Hope this helps

Pete

EDIT: As Corny says go gentle with the gouge and with sanding. Catch a gouge in a hole or gap and you'll know it Look for the ghost. I find myself looking more at the outline or ghost than at the tool or sandpaper.

 

[duncanh]

As has been said, a piece of card or sometimes a black bin bag behind the spinning edge help to see where you are cutting and where there's air.
Once the wood is balanced I turn the speed up as fast as is comfortable to minimise the time that tool is in the air.
Don't try to rub the bevel when over the natural edge - this will cause bounce

When I don't get a good finish from the tool I power sand with the lathe off.

 

[hpl]

Thanks for the tips. Now pondering, and I'm going to have to have another go soon!
A few questions. What is shear scraping?
If turning without the bevel rubbing doesn't this cause the tool to grab and dig?
The hardest bit was the inside. I would usually turn from the outside down to the middle but this doesn't seem possible with the natural edge, so I turned the other way. I used a bowl gouge ground to what I was told is called an 'Irish Grind'. From what you have said I was probably trying to go too hard and taking off too much. Being mainly a spindle turner I don't use scrapers unless all else fails, they are very slow in comparison to a gouge. Would this be a case where a scraper is the only thing to use?
With power sanding, what do you use on the inside of the bowl. The outside was easy as I just used the ROS, but a bit large for the inside! (what is grip a disc)?

Sorry if I sound stupid. I do a lot of turning, just not many bowls.

Thanks again

Johnny B

 

[cornucopia]

you turn a natraul edge bowl from the outside down to the middle just like a normal bowl, the diffrence is at some points youre turning a mix of wood and air every rotation.

Theres a grey area here when people say "rub the bevel" you are correct that no bevel contact will be bad but you also dont want to be pushing the bevel too hard onto the wood, so yes bevel contact but light contact.

grip a disc is a 2" or 3" abrasive disc with a velcro backing this is then held in an arbor in your drill. looky here

there are no stupid questions 8-[

 

[Bodrighy]

This is where all the conflicting advice comes in. Unlike Corny I usually drill down the middle of the bowl with the gouge and then shear scrape out for most of the bowl (NE or other) I find trying to get the best finish on the inside by using the bevel really diffficult. I need lessons in this one

Grip a disc can be used with a seperate handle and arbor as well as a drill; also the velcroed pads have the foam on them which helps a lot when sanding odd shapes.

Pete

 

[davegw]

What is shear scraping?

I had the same question, and this helped. shear scraping

Sorry if I sound stupid. I do a lot of turning, just not many bowls.

Thanks again

Johnny B

Someone once said to me "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask". None of these were stupid Johnny.

 

[Paul.J]

I have only recently started turning NE bowls and really enjoy doing them,even though there is more hand/power sanding involved.
I use the Grip-A-Disc pad in my electric drill to do the inside with the piece stationary.
I make a mental note on the piece where i start and use the Indexing lock to rotate and lock the piece off while i sand.
I also drill a hole down to the depth required first,and cut from the top to the center,taking as light a cut as i can when nearing completion.