# Three bowls, always learning



## esears (Aug 2, 2009)

*shamelessly copied from my post at smc* :biggrin:

Here are three bowls that I've done over the past week.

The first one is cherry with an offset walnut cross going through it. It is approx. 5 inches in diameter and about 2 inches tall. 

The second one is Australian Blackwood. I really like this wood, but I had some trouble from where it transitioned from the heartwood to the sapwood. There was some tearout that I just couldn't get rid of. So I sanded it down, finished and buffed and I enjoy it the way it is. It is about 8 inches across and 2 inches tall.

The third one is a piece of spalted ironwood I believe. I broke 5 screws off trying to put a faceplate onto it and had to sharpen multiple times during the turning of it. I put in two grooves, one on the top of the rim and one on the outside. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't now. When I was buffing with the white diamond compound, of course it picked it up and now I'm going to have to go through with some sandpaper by hand and try to clean the groove out. Lesson learned which I what I enjoy. This last one is about 4 inches in diameter and about 2 inches tall.

Everything was sanded down to 600 and had two to three coats of danish oil applied, dried, and then buffed out. I think I still need to get the hang of the beall system, but as with everything, practice will help.

The aAustralian blackwood and the ironwood were acquired from Zambezi Exotics and the cherry/walnut was given to me by a friend. Although I enjoy bowls I think more than pens, I'm still finding myself getting the majority of my stuff from people on here. Great vendor base all around.

I have a picture tent coming hopefully this week, so I'm hoping I can improve on the picture taking a bit with that.


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## rjwolfe3 (Aug 2, 2009)

Very nice!


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## louisbry (Aug 3, 2009)

Good looking bowls.  I don't know what kind of screws you used but it sounds like you used dry wall screws.  They will break off almost any time you screw them into hard wood.  Sheet metal screws work much better.


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## CSue (Aug 3, 2009)

"I put in two grooves, one on the top of the rim and one on the outside. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't now. When I was buffing with the white diamond compound, of course it picked it up and now I'm going to have to go through with some sandpaper by hand and try to clean the groove out. Lesson learned which I what I enjoy."

I've done that once.  I used a buffer on my dremel very close and it finished the wax quite well.

The bowls are really beautiful!


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## mickr (Aug 3, 2009)

good job..a buffed finish is great and it caN BE RENEWED easily...enjoy your new addiction


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## Marc (Aug 6, 2009)

Those a great.  The african blackwood is my favorite of those.  Beautiful work.


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## byounghusband (Aug 6, 2009)

Nice shine on the 2nd and 3rd ones!!  You can really see the reflection of the placemat there.  I didn't realize AB could be SO light in color....  I have always used it for DARK turnings....
Do you have a 4 jaw chuck?  You wouldn't need to use screws or a faceplate.

Beautiful work!!


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## VisExp (Aug 6, 2009)

Eric, the bowls look great.  I think you might be mistaken about the second bowl though.  I believe it is Australian Blackwood, not African Blackwood.   I have not turned that species yet, I looked back at what you ordered.  Now that I see it though, I might have to dig into the stash and put some on the lathe    The ironwood looks beautiful, as always.  It is not spalted, that is the natural grain pattern.  I'm always amazed at how nice the ironwood turns out, the raw blanks look pretty unispiring.


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## nava1uni (Aug 7, 2009)

I use a soft toothbrush to get compound out of grooves, or my dremel.  If using the dremel just make sure you don't apply too much pressure. DAMHIK.  Your bowls are really nice looking.


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