Bowl Turning lathe - and Tool ideas for xmas

[loz.]

Hi All,


First one !

I'm wondering if anyone has plans for a lathe capable of bowl turning ? - project i would like to try. I have seen plenty of online plans for pole lathes but not sure if they would suit bowls.

And. Due to JonR's tutorial greatness iv'e been making a few kuskas and bowls - but i'm restricted to my Mora Clipper and a frosts spoon knife, and i feel this is restricting the shapes and styles i can create ( its also hard work !! ) I'd like to expand my tool collection to make cup,bowl spoon making a bit more varied. - could someone with the knowledge suggest types on gouges or other tools to help me along ?

And finally - can any suggest a good book on bowl, cups, spoons etc - with vaied styles to copy and maybe some tool technique ?


Thanks

Loz

I

 

[spamel]

Dick Proenneke used a gouge to make his spopons and bowls, and they are very good to be honest! I reckon of you get a small flat chisel and gouge and a small saw, you should be able to knock most things up. A mallet for removing large pieces of wood with a chisel and a vice to hold your workpiece would be more than enough.

 

[Robby]

You can turn a bowl on any lathe I've done one on a pole lathe before. what you need to have is something (I think it's called a mandril) to drive the piece. I used a cylindrical piece with flared ends that gave a widerbase to support the bowl. Hammer some nails into the end of the mandril and leave them about 2mm showing and grind them to a point. If you're using a powered lathe this could be a metal plate with screws driven through, and a post to grip in the chuck. The biggest difference is in cutting into the face of the bowl piece. I found it easiest to dress a flat surface, then cut in. Work the outside of the bowl first as you would turn normally then start on the inside. you need the tool rest angled perpendicular to the bed of the lathe. start from the rim and work in. work away leaving a post in the centre, once you've got the depth and shape you want, you turn that post into a cone that tapers down into the bottom of the bowl. Once you get down to that you can cut through the fine base of the cone and you're left with your bowl.

umm, did that make sense???? basically you don't need special tools or lathes just adapt the one you have. the mandril to drive it is the main thing.

 

[loz.]

Thanks Robby - makes perfect sense !

So if i built my pole lathe and adapt with a mandrill i should be ok. Just need decent bowl blanks, offcuts of log etc.

I'm still going to need more tools than i have.

Special tools for lathe work - or standard chisels be ok ?

 

[Buckshot]

http://www.bodgers.org.uk/
I'm sure I saw either on this site or one linked to it what's needed for bowl turning

Mark

 

[loz.]

Thanks also Spamel - reminder about holding my pieces - ive been using ratchet and strapping to hold down pieces to a garden bench to work them so far ! - really need to get a workbench of sorts.

Someone posted some mods to a blackanddecker bench a while back but i cant find it. I quite like Eric Methvens Spoon carving Jig plans ! - but pretty similar to what im doing now !

 

[loz.]

http://www.bodgers.org.uk/
I'm sure I saw either on this site or one linked to it what's needed for bowl turning

Mark

Thanks Mark,
Is the latheHere ? the lath in the plans Here ??

Im confident i could assemble - but not sure about building the componant parts - with the tools i have.

Anyone done this from the plans ?

Thanks

Loz

 

[Buckshot]

As far as I'm aware yes it is
If you google for bowl turners or some such it brings up variations on this theme

Mark

 

[jon r]

hey loz!

good luck with the pole lathe and about that link you lost, i think its this one: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25598 it shows Hoodoo's homemade bench dogs in there somewhere

 

[Eric_Methven]

A couple of things worth mentioning as regards bowl turning.

A normal pole lathe is fine, but make sure your poppets are high enough to acommodate the diameter of bowl you want.

Because the mass of the bowl acts like a flywheel, slippage of the cord is common. To overcome this, and to give a better grip on the mandrel, I use a length of half inch leather strap between the treadle and the cord. It only needs to be long enough to accommodate the mandrel at full stroke.

You'll find turning inner surfaces much easier if you invest in a bowl hook, or you can make one from a length of straightened coil spring from an old car. It needs to be about a foot long and you just whack a long handle on the end.

The tool rest will need to be modified somewhat. You can still use the same tool rest, but it needs to go at right angles to the lathe bed, so it's in line with the face of the bowl. How I overcame the problem was to make a small additional poppet that fits just under the mandrel. It has a hole drilled in it to accept a bit of dowel. The tool rest has a bit of dowel glued in it underneath on one end. This dowel sits in the hole on the extra poppet and allows the rest to swivel, but is fixed at that point. The other end of the rest sits in the crook of a tripod made from three broom shanks lashed together. I can adjust the lashing for height and move it forward or back to get really close to the work surface. The closer you can get your tool rest, the less judder you get.

Hope that made sense.

Eric

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Hi All,


First one !

I'm wondering if anyone has plans for a lathe capable of bowl turning ? - project i would like to try. I have seen plenty of online plans for pole lathes but not sure if they would suit bowls.

And finally - can any suggest a good book on bowl, cups, spoons etc - with vaied styles to copy and maybe some tool technique ?
I

Pole lathes
Faceplate turning is easiest for bowls, browse WHSmith for good ideas
in the woodwork mags there.

I have this for swap in the swaps section -

Woodturning - A source book of shapes
John Hunnex
ISBN 0-946819-45-9
£8

I use it when I teach woodworking inc. turning.

Using your 'own grinded' tools is cool.

Nick

 

[swamp donkey]

If you go onto our mate Robin Woods website you will find a vid of how its done and a nice one of foot against power

 

[loz.]

Thanks all for the info,

Im half leaning towards getting the perform ccsl lathe from axminster rather than building a pole lathe, Im not confident i can build from plans with the tools i have, and want to get cracking at turning !!

 

[mr dazzler]

If I was you I'd stick with the pole lathe (they are cheap, quick and easy to build believe me) and use the money you would of spend on a chinease axminster lathe to get some top ashley iles gouges/chisles etc for turning. I have sucessfully turned bowls on a pole lathe, up to about 6 or 7 inch diameter, green wood (ash, chestnut) and dry pine and fir also. I made a mandrel with spikes similar as what robby sudgested. It worked really very well, but getting a decent consistent surface finish was not so easy. In fact I might just build a proper purpose bowl turning pole lathe and try again, I have some hefty 6x4 and 8x2 and big coach screws in the garage, get an oak post from my neighbour for the sliding popet, forged centres.