First Bowl - May 2010

This is a continuation of some of my previous projects.  This was done in May 2010.

I finally finished sawing up the larger of the chunks of wood I cut last weekend. Took about forever to slice out the bowl blanks with the hand saw. (I do not own a chainsaw, but definitely need to buy one if I continue turning bowls; seems like I spent half my life out on the back patio cutting on that chunk of wood to get the section out I needed.) After I got a slice of wood cut off the log, I cut it up on the table saw, chiseling out what the blade couldn't reach. I believe it's maple, though the log it came from was long dead and the species was indeterminate. I mounted it between centers, turned it round, and then started shaping it into a traditional bowl shape.

Unfortunately, I didn't know that there was rot inside of the log when I started. It was so bad, that it was soft/wet and splattering on my arms as I turned it. So, I changed the profile of the bowl and made a sort of short saucer instead of a normal bowl.

Here's the rot after I turned down the bulk of the bad area:

The other side of the blank does not show any indication of the problems evident just a few inches away

After having the basic shape done, I mounted it to a faceplate (since I don't have a chuck), trued it up, and started hollowing. The hollowing went MUCH better this time, rather than trying to hollow end grain. I primarily used my 1/4" gouge, as the 3/4" and 1" gouges both tended to catch and draw outwards. (They're the ones in the $45 HF tool set; the turning tools I have.) The sides developed a few small splits during the sanding process, which I repaired with CA. It's sanded to 220.

I think I made the sides too thin; they seem very fragile- I had to sand quite a bit where the splits were repaired to get it smooth, which is part of the reason they ended up overly thin. You can see one part where the growth ring fell out during the final sanding process. I really like how the grain stands out and the spalting pattern to the wood; it wasn't something that I expected when picking out a felled tree to hack off a chunk of. There was a small amount visible after I got it cut, but I had no idea it'd look so cool when it got turned. Don't know how I'm going to finish it yet.