ahh, the prime directive – never say what you’remaking until you’re done. little did i know when i started just how well it would applyto this project. first, this bowl was an experiment in graindirection. i wanted to see if i could turn a bowl with the grain running vertically upthrough the bowl. i wanted some immediate gratification so i planned to turn the entirebowl in one session without waiting for the green wood to dry in between turning sessions.boy, was this one a pain. turning the initial blank was not too bad. the blank was quiteround except for the ends which i had left somewhat ragged. initially, i had thoughtto use the blank for two bowls. all i had to do was to turn a tenon on each end of theblank and part the blank in the middle. voila,
two bowl blanks. that part was not two badexcept for the end grain on the end. usually, this is side grain and easy to turn. end grainon this maple was somewhat harder. but that was only the beginning.after flipping the bowl over into the jaw chuck, i had to flatten the new top. my sawhad not done a good job. the surface was quite irregular and all end grain. tough going.i decided to drill out the center with a forstner bit. this was a good move. my only regretwas not boring it with a larger diameter bit because i still had a lot of end grain toremove with the gouge. i resorted to my bowl scraper for much ofthe hollowing of the bowl. but scraping the end grain was much slower than cutting sidegrain with a gouge in a normally oriented
bowl.i wanted a small lip on the bowl, so i switched to a side scraper to finish the bowl. eventually,the bowl took shape and was looking pretty good.sanding was another pain in the neck. the wet wood quickly loaded up my sandpaper. ihad to refresh the paper several times with each grit. even then, looking at the completedbowl, i didn’t get the inside bottom finished very well.but, i made it through it. i finished the interior and some of the exterior with walnutoil. i thought i was home free. with the interior finished, i flipped thebowl over again and mounted it on the exterior of the jaw chuck with the jaws pressing outward.exterior finishing went well.
i just wanted to make the bottom just a little thinner. when…in the bottom, you can see the nick where the gouge caught the wood in a moment of inattention.there is a minor defect in the bottom where a small twig had grown out, the entire bowlis short grain. but in the end, i can only blame myself for not maintaining focus onmy gouge. i never got the chance to see how the pith running though the bottom would farein drying. needless to say, i’ll revert to my typicalbowl orientation