I've been asked to make a Wassail bowl

[PAC]

Yep, I had no idea what it was either. Turns out it looks like an over-sized goblet for holding about 2 pints of beverage. I reckon it will need to be about 7-8 inches in diameter and 10-12 inches deep (with the bowl about 5-6 inches deep). A food friendly wood like beech or fruit wood and a very water resistant finish would be required. It needs to be ready by January so that's not much time for a rough turned, green bowl to dry out. Traditionally, they are turned from a whole log, in end grain.

See here for an example: http://www.stuartking.co.uk/index.php/making-a-wassail-bowl/

Not sure whether my cheap CCL lathe could take such a pounding from a large lump of green timber. Any suggestions for how I should approach this task?

 

[CHJ]

.....Not sure whether my cheap CCL lathe could take such a pounding from a large lump of green timber. Any suggestions for how I should approach this task?

Sure it will, takes a little longer to to get the job done that's all.

Basic problem for starters due to the slowest speed available, is to get the wood balanced before you start.

Get it mounted between faceplate/chuck/centres as required and trim the log so that it is as near balanced as possible with hand/power plane before you start.

Tip: if you take the drive belt off, the spindle will rotate freely so that heavy spot drops to bottom.

See this old thread of mine using the perform

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi PAC,

They used to use Lignum for the Wassail bowls.

I guess there are a few ways to go about it... as you say, to do it all end grain you need a good sized blank and a good bit of drying time, or a warning on the finished product that it will not be round for long :lol: :lol: :lol: !!!

The other way may be to make it more like a Tazza, which is basically a standard bowl (a deep bowl in this case) mounted on a pedistal like a lamp stand for example. There have been several examples in Woodturning magazine and if I'm not mistaken, Cornucopia has made one on here a while back. I'm sure he'll be along before long....

HTH

Richard