First go at bowl turning.

[Muddypaws]

Got some biggish bits of green sycamore recently, so I thought I'd have a go at bowl turning on my pole lathe.


And here beside the largest bowl that I had previously hand carved.

It is quite a leap from spindle turning (such as spoons and spurtle), as the grain in the bowl blank runs perpendicular to the axis of rotation, so half the time the tool is working against the grain. The finish leaves a lot to be desired. I will have to tidy up with a curved scraper after the wood has dried out a bit.
Also it is very hard work (at least for me, considerably less fit than I used to be). My lightly constructed lathe was put under a great deal of strain too, so if I get into bowl turning then I will have to construct a heavier lathe, and make or acquire some heavier tools.

Anyway it has been a learning experience, but for now I will go back to spoon turning.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Mesquite]

That's a nicely shaped bowl

 

[crosslandkelly]

They look really nice, good work.

 

[cleargreenlight]

Very pleasing work. Well done; and as you say, every one teaches you something more.

 

[forginhill]

Awesome! Been wanting to try that myself for a long time now. I like yours.

 

[Toddy]

For a first pole lathe turned bowl that's pretty d. good

I have demonstrated on a pole lathe, but the most I ever turned was a stool leg

Well done and it'll be interesting to see what else you make on it too

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Their appearance suggests so many things about a bowl as a multipurpose container.
Toddy. Storage. What do you suppose was used, centuries ago? Basketry or bowls?

I dislike these things = now I want to build a pole lathe. If and when our winter ever comes to an end!

 

[Toddy]

We have pieces that are the waste stumps from pole lathe turning that are accurately dated to before the Bronze age here.
It's a very old technology indeed.

I suspect woven baskets, but I'm pretty sure that skins predated those.
A freshly moulded pottery piece is very pliable, we have good evidence (I've seen and handled a Scottish one that's four thousand years old that has the marks of the woven grass mat that it was moulded upon fired into it's base) that the clay was often supported in baskets of some kind. If the clay was used to waterproof/line the baskets, they'd dry out well. Fire them eventually, as all consumable end up on the fire one way or t'other, and there's the start of pottery

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks Toddy. Nothing here is old. Maybe 100 years and then the coming of the railroad.

Just might have to do some reading and research before spring.
I wonder what turning tools were used pre-Bronze? Copper? Flint?

 

[Toddy]

Rodent teeth are surprisingly useful, but flint is an excellent tool, so is chert, pitchstone, bloodstone, etc.,

I keep saying it, but as 'bushcrafters' we don't do enough with stone.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Recall that The Americas jumped from the stone age to the iron age just some 500 years ago. For your place, that was many,
many thousands of years ago.
Flint and obsidian are the two principal edge stones. I think there are some bearver-tooth tools in the big UBC/MOA collection.
Some nephrite jade was used for adze tools in the Pacific Northwest but native copper seems to have been reserved for adornments.

For the entire spectrum of neophyte to competence in flint knapping, one need look no further than the Paleoplanet Forums.
Old TV picture tube glass, optical fiber glass billets, bottle bottoms and stone. Amazing work.

The bowls that Muddypaws is turning would be wonderful containers for food or a display of other artifacts.

 

[Muddypaws]

Hey Toddy and Robson Valley
Thanks for the interesting thread Jack - I had no idea that bowl turning on a treadle operated lathe was so old a technology. Now I want to get a bit if flint to make a primitive turning tool.
Just one question though - what would the ancients have used for the lathe centres? I get that everything else could be made primitively.

Anyway, to everyone, thanks for the positive feedback!

 

[Robson Valley]

I'll guess: animal canine teeth or antler tips.
What might be your chances to get a beaver tooth for a turning tool?

I found a blacksmith who might be able to recreate a couple of adze blades in copper for me.
Copper metal deposits mined all over Canada. Handles are done (spares for now).
Going to be an interesting performance comparison.

 

[Alreetmiowdmuka]

That's a beut mate any chance of a pic of yer pole lathe too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Muddypaws]

That's a beut mate any chance of a pic of yer pole lathe too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll see if I can take some pics tomorrow, hopefully with a bowl blank mounted so you can get a good idea of how it all goes together.

 

[richardhomer]

Looks great. Very nice work for a first go.
Are you going to give it ago again on a pole lathe ?

 

[Muddypaws]

That's a beut mate any chance of a pic of yer pole lathe too

Sorry I didn't get some pictures sooner, real life got in the way! Anyway, here is my lathe -This is really only set up for spindle turning, quite light construction. The bed timbers are softwood, not ideal, but I do have some shorter hardwood beams that I can use, but they are not long enough to turn a two foot spoon, which is why the lathe is set up as it is.

Here is a closer view of bowl blank number 2, so you can see the mandrel it is mounted on, for the cord to run on.

Some of my tools - roughing gouge, small home made spindle gouge sharpened to a "thumbnail" profile, hooked scraper tool and, a bit of a cheat's tool, a microplane rasp, very handy indeed.

Lastly the bowl nearly done, the core nearly undercut with the hooked scraper tool. This bowl will be left attached to the core, so that after it has dried out and warped I'll try to true it up, and get a good finish using scrapers and sandpaper. Of course it may warp too much for that, but this is a learning process!

 

[Alreetmiowdmuka]

Thanks for taking the time too take pics.looks a cool set up.i was looking into making a lathe a few years back n never got round too it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk