Turned my first bowl today!

[Chris152]

Scrapers need a tiny burr on the cutting edge just like a cabinet scraper does, I find straight off my 80 grit grinder they have just enough, as you say many ways to achieve the same result, find your own way............ I sound like Yoda lol!

I was scraping some sycamore today, and it looked like a balding head with a combover by the time I'd finished. I resharpened and checked for burr - it seemed to be ok on the underside that you don't use, but the useful edge had hardly any. I'm using 120 grit on a proedge - any suggestions what I can do to improve the burr? It's the same 120 belt that came with the sharpener, could it be that it's now too smooth?

Thanks

 

[Chris152]

I finished this one this morning. It's waxed maple with the black painted using eggshell, partially sanded back.

The rim's annoyingly not very flat (i'd planned to burn it with a torch so was a bit careless, but can't decide what torch to buy so went ahead and painted instead - carbonising can wait).

It's 12 inches diameter and I now have a couple of 14 inch blanks to try on. I read somewhere that the largest diameter you want to do with a 50mm chuck (which mine is) is 12 inches. Does that sound right? If I'm to buy a new chuck, what do you recommend I go for? Sorby Patriot looks good, and Axminster SK114 equally so - about the same price but with 50mm jaws included with the patriot, if I understand correctly.

Thanks for any advice/ thoughts.
C

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Try grinding your scraper upside down. There are people who say it makes no difference, but it seems to to me. Any torch is fine, really - many of the expensive ones are expensive because of anti flare devices which make them useable in any position, which doesn't really apply to your type of usage. Just get one that takes a fairly standard cannister of gas.
Incidentally, fine grained woods such as sycamore don't tend to be the best to burn, the burning can look much like paint - If you try a coarser grained wood you can wire brush it after burning to good effect.

 

[Dalboy]

The bowl with the black rim looks good why are you worried about the rim being flat from here the gentle curve down to the outer edge looks good, not all wide rim bowls need the rim to be flat.
I however notice that ther are either tool or sanding marks on the rim which a finish will bring out, if they are sanding marks go through the grits and sand with the grain with the lathe stopped before moving on to the next one. If you do this for every grit until the one you decide to stop at this will help stop the lines. I can spend as much time on a finish than I do turning a bowl and on occasions have had to go back a couple of grits.
You are getting there and the tear out is now becomeing less of a problem. I always sharpen my tools for the last cuts, remember that any tear out can be a couple of mm deep so may take more then one cut to get rid of them.
Some woods will still give problems as they do tend to tear out more than others.
Be careful if you go down the route of burning a piece make sure you clean up before you start so there is nothing that can accidentaly catch on fire and have some sort of extinguisher available or better still try and do it outside.

 

[Chris152]

Thanks both.

Phil - there's no doubt there was more burr on the underside of the scraper when I sharpened it - I'll have to make a little jig so I can try it upside down. And once I've got a torch I'll try different woods to see what happens before I try it on a bowl.

Dalboy - yep, those marks are clear in the photo - I couldn't see them when it was just the wood, nor when it was primed but once the second coat of paint went on they became visible. I'm looking at it and can't make out if it's turning, sanding or even the primer or first coat of paint (I applied both coats with the lathe still but finished by turning the lathe and holding the brush still). The final coat went on with the lathe still. But whatever it is, I hadn't thought to follow the grain when sanding, makes perfect sense and I'll definitely be doing that next time. Oh, and the plan's to burn outside, I try to clear up as much as possible in the garage but wouldn't rely on that. (Though I had wondered if I should have a fire extinguisher anyway - is that what most people do/ If so, what sort?)

The larger maple is cut to rounds but I'm concerned not to start til I'm clear that the chuck I have should be ok. I used a mortice on the last one to connect, and the minimum external diameter of the jaws is 73mm; the largest external diameter is 83mm. The blanks are only 2 inches thick. Is there a guide anywhere on the maximum wood size chuck/ jaws can hold?

Thanks again C

ps apologies for the endless questions...