# Roughing a Bowl



## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Well Harry this is for you. The wife told me to get out of bed and get it done so here ya go. I start my bowls with a green blank. If they are not rounded I do that on my bandsaw. Once rounded I find the center and mount a faceplate on it on the bowl opening side. I mount the faceplate onto the lathe after the bowl blank is attached and bring up the tailstock. I put a picture of my bowl gouge with the swept back or irish grind on it. I never use a scraper or any other tool on a bowl just this gouge or my 3/8" gouge. I then form the outside of the bowl roughly. Once the tenon is made and I am satisfied with the shape I turn the blank to be held in the chuck. I then commence to hollow out the inside. I leave the walls 10% of the bowls diameter. You will see why in the next edition. It will go oblong on you when it dries so you need some wood so that when you return it to the lathe you can turn it round again. From here I soak my green bowls in Denatured Alcohol. I soak them for about 3 to 5 days. I then take them out let them flash dry and wrap them up each in a brown grocery sack. I cut a opening in the bowl portion and lay upside down on a cooling rack from wal-mart. I put these where there is little if any air movement because I don't want them drying to fast. I weigh these blanks about once a week to see what the weight loss is. Most times in about 4 week they can be returned to the lathe dry. 

Now I am not going to get into rights and wrongs of drying because everyone has there own way of doing it. Some paint their green bowls with anchorseal, some boil there wood, some microwave it, some use dishwashing liquid to soak their bowls in, some DNA it, some just throw them on the shelves. You can research and try any of these. I settled on the DNA. It works for me and I get dry bowls in 1 month to 1 1/2 months. With some of the others such as anchorseal it will probably take 8 to 12 months to dry. 

Anyway need to quit rambling and get on with the second part of this which is returning the bowl to the lathe after it has dried.


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## dutchman 46 (May 23, 2007)

Great post Bernie. It's a great way to show those who havent done any bowls, to try it out! Great pics! May be for Harry, but all will benefit


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Bernie, I don't know how I'm going to thank your wife for shoving you out of the matrimonial bed on what may well have been a cold morning. Please assure her that I, and I'm sure many other members have learned a great deal from the thread, what a first class tutorial it is. How about a shot of the container that you soak the blanks in, does it have a sealed lid so that the DNA remains in it all the time, ready for the next blank?


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

A fine bowl, Bernie.

The explanation was very informative...

James


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## gallianp (Oct 13, 2009)

Well done Bernie! Very good explanation! good photos to show what is going on... We do it very similar -- like minds :laugh:

Turning bowls is really fun.. gave away many for Christmas presents this year about 50+ went out the door.. I am sure friends/family will get tired of receiving bowls soon.. Wish I had tracked who got what species of wood so I could send different wood next time... :laugh::bad:

I also use DeNatured Alcohol -- I use a 5 gal. bucket for small bowls and have a larger container for big - to giant bowls. with lids..


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I had long since forgotten this post of yours Bernie, It gave me a better understanding of bowl turning then, but revisiting again now really has given me more confidence to continue forward. Considering that you would probably have many green turnings drying at any one time, it seems to me that you must have a large vat to soak them all in.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Thanks again Paul and Harry. Yes Harry I am trying to get a stock of bowls drying. Right now I have about 20 in that process and would like to keep around 40 or so in the process line especially when I get the bowl coring system setup.


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

I would chop the tree down on Friday. Bandsaw some blanks and turn the outsides and foot, polish with 1 coat of melamine sealer and 2 of melamine, on saturday. Wax outside on sunday, have breakfast and turn the inside and sand , seal and polish. Wax monday. I did the bowls in batches of 2's. If they were turned thin, they did not distirt. I have tried PEG, microwaving and prefer the wet turning. The floor would be knee deep in wet 40 foot long ribbons, but that's turning. I sold dozens, from 5" dia up to 16". Whole tree loads of bowls. I did not use branches, and if there were any defects, on to the next one. I left bark rims on many.


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## Woodentoolman (Aug 30, 2013)

Something I'd like to try someday


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Give it a go Wayne. Pretty easy to do.


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## marvmn (Dec 7, 2013)

Must admit i haven't done any green wood turning. Luckily i have a source of kiln dried blanks. Little bit dearer but less time consuming than chopping trees down


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