# I finally made a bowl!



## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

I got a Woodchuck Bowl Pro tool from Ken Ferrell a couple of months ago and I had this nice piece of pecan that's been screaming "TURN ME!", so I finally gave it a shot.

Far from perfect, but I had fun making it & I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I love the Bowl Pro tool - it transformed that big plug of wood inside the bowl into a pile of shavings in short order.

The bowl is 5" across at the top and 3" tall. This one's going to be a Christmas present for my wife.


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## Arbetlam (Sep 29, 2015)

Way to go! That is a very nice looking bowl.


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## Indiana_Parrothead (Sep 29, 2015)

Nice work Edgar, for your first one that is really nice

Mike


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## southernclay (Sep 29, 2015)

Great shape Edgar, that is a beautiful and funky chunk of wood!


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## mark james (Sep 29, 2015)

Good for you Ed!  After the first, it now gives you a nice option for other things to turn.

I have 3 more pens to turn, then want to work on a Beads of Courage Bowl design that I have been working on.

Nice figure in the blank!


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## stonepecker (Sep 29, 2015)

Good job Edgar.   See?  We all knew you could do it.

How about a picture of the tool and a little review of it?


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## D.Oliver (Sep 29, 2015)

What a great peice of wood.  If that's your first bowl, I don't think we can be freinds any more.  My first 3 or 4 attempts didn't even make it off the lathe.:biggrin:


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

mark james said:


> Good for you Ed!  After the first, it now gives you a nice option for other things to turn.
> 
> I have 3 more pens to turn, then want to work on a Beads of Courage Bowl design that I have been working on.
> 
> Nice figure in the blank!



Thanks Mark,
Another first for me, I also made this little lidded box from ERC for my granddaughter last night. 

Your Beads of Courage Bowls have been a big part of my motivation to try making bowls & lidded boxes. I want to try to make a lidded bowl for Beads of Courage, but I first need to develop some basic skills in that area.

Edgar


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## Cmiles1985 (Sep 29, 2015)

D.Oliver said:


> What a great peice of wood.  If that's your first bowl, I don't think we can be freinds any more.  My first 3 or 4 attempts didn't even make it off the lathe.:biggrin:


  My first three or four made it off the lathe...way off the lathe!:bulgy-eyes:

That's a nice bowl and lidded box Edgar! They sure are fun once you get the procedure down.


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## D.Oliver (Sep 29, 2015)

Does it make the suction "pop" noise when you pull the lid off?  I love that noise.


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## Cwalker935 (Sep 29, 2015)

Nice work


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## Charlie_W (Sep 29, 2015)

Way to turn Edgar! I like those!


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

stonepecker said:


> Good job Edgar.   See?  We all knew you could do it.
> 
> How about a picture of the tool and a little review of it?



Thanks Wayne & I'm happy to say a little about the tools that I used.

Here's a photo of the business end of the Bowl Pro & also a special tool that William Weathersbee (triw51) made for me.

I used my mini EWT carbide tools to turn the blanks round & shape the outsides, then I used the Bowl Pro to hollow out the bowl and the little lidded box. It has an 8" long stainless steel body and a 17" handle. It comes with a pair of carbide cutters (15R4 and 15R2). I used the 15R2 on these two projects. The heavy duty construction & long body+handle really makes it easy to control, even with fairly aggressive hollowing. I ran the lathe at 1600 RPM and didn't have any problems with catches or controlling the tool.

You can find better pictures & description of this & Ken's other tools at his web site: Tools

William Weathersbee is a blacksmith as well as a turner and makes lots of his own tools. He designed the one shown in this photo especially for making lidded boxes. It's made from an old car spring and has about a 1" cutting edge on the front & one side and about a 2.5" cutting edge on the opposite side. It really helps with squaring up the mating surfaces on the lid & body of the little boxes.


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

D.Oliver said:


> Does it make the suction "pop" noise when you pull the lid off?  I love that noise.



I was hoping no one would ask. 

The lid does have a nice fit, but it's just a little too loose for a pop. My granddaughter won't care, but I definitely have to work on that.


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## jsolie (Sep 29, 2015)

Edgar, those look great!  I really like how the grain matches up on the lidded box.  Your wife is going to love that bowl.


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## BSea (Sep 29, 2015)

Those are great!  I really like the ERC lidded box.  :good:

I think I have a piece of ERC I can try.  That's for the inspiration.


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## jcm71 (Sep 29, 2015)

D.Oliver said:


> What a great peice of wood.  If that's your first bowl, I don't think we can be freinds any more.  My first 3 or 4 attempts didn't even make it off the lathe.:biggrin:



My first attempts did.  They flew off the lathe.


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## bobleibo (Sep 29, 2015)

Something tells me those aren't your first ones, at least I hope not since they make my first ones look like ********. I really like that wood. 
Nice job Edgar~


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

D.Oliver said:


> What a great peice of wood.  If that's your first bowl, I don't think we can be freinds any more.  My first 3 or 4 attempts didn't even make it off the lathe.:biggrin:



Full disclosure - I actually cheated a little bit.

Our local Woodcraft store recently hosted a charity bowl turning event and since I had never turned a bowl, I decided to go over there for a couple of hours to see if I could learn something. I got there just about the time a family with 4 youngsters (about 10-16) got started on their bowls. They had 4 lathes set up and two of the WC staff were providing assistance. 

Since these young folks had never turned a bowl before, the WC guys were very patient & thorough with their explanations. I just stood in amongst the 4 lathes, listened to everything they said & demonstrated and watched the kids turn. They all made a very nice bowl and I soaked up a ton of knowledge.

There was a nice group of folks there waiting for a turn at the lathes, so I didn't stick around to turn one that day, but I was pretty confident that I now knew what to do. Hats off to Woodcraft for hosting this event.


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## SteveJ (Sep 29, 2015)

Both are great!

But at the risk of sounding ill informed, ignorant or outright stupid, what is an ERC bowl?


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## BSea (Sep 29, 2015)

SMJ1957 said:


> Both are great!
> 
> But at the risk of sounding ill informed, ignorant or outright stupid, what is an ERC bowl?


Eastern Red Cedar.


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## mark james (Sep 29, 2015)

edohmann said:


> D.Oliver said:
> 
> 
> > Does it make the suction "pop" noise when you pull the lid off?  I love that noise.
> ...



...  If you wait until the humidity goes up it will swell, and possibly won't come off...(DAMHIK)...


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## Robert Taylor (Sep 29, 2015)

*ERC Bowl*



SMJ1957 said:


> Both are great!
> 
> But at the risk of sounding ill informed, ignorant or outright stupid, what is an ERC bowl?



ERC=Eastern Red Cedar


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## liljohn1368 (Sep 29, 2015)

They both look great Edgar....


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## SteveG (Sep 29, 2015)

edohmann said:


> D.Oliver said:
> 
> 
> > Does it make the suction "pop" noise when you pull the lid off?  I love that noise.
> ...



IVO the noted deficiency in the "fit", tongue: perfectly fine for one at your early stage of lidded box turning.) you can learn to compensate by making a "pop" sound with your mouth/throat, every time the lid is pulled off. You could even take it a step further, and teach your granddaughter to do it also . If she asks why, just ask her to not tell anyone, but that gandpa just needs her to do that.:redface:


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## SteveG (Sep 29, 2015)

That was my "just for fun" post. This is my reaction post. Your bowl and box attempts look good, showing you absorbed well as you soaked up the training at the Woodcraft location. I am about at the same experience level as you with bowl-work. :biggrin:   Nice work, and may there be many more bowls to come!


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## low_48 (Sep 29, 2015)

A good addition to your tool set would be a power sanding set. It won't work well with your sharp corner from sides to bottom, but it wii remove your torn grain lines in the sides. Nice start.


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## Rick_G (Sep 29, 2015)

Good start Edgar, my first one I did at a Lee Valley seminar and my second one got out of my home made cole jaws while finishing the bottom.  Not a total loss as it did provide a little heat in the fireplace last winter.  Next step is some razor sharp bowl gouges.  I hate sanding and a touch up on the grinder just before that final pass eliminates a lot of tear out and sanding.


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

mark james said:


> edohmann said:
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> > D.Oliver said:
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I'd probably have to throw it into a tub of water to get any higher humidity than we have here in the TX Gulf Coast


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

SteveG said:


> edohmann said:
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> > D.Oliver said:
> ...



Good idea Steve, but do you seriously think that I could ever talk this girl into doing anything like that? :wink:


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

low_48 said:


> A good addition to your tool set would be a power sanding set. It won't work well with your sharp corner from sides to bottom, but it wii remove your torn grain lines in the sides. Nice start.



Thanks for the tip, Rich. I will definitely look into that.


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## robutacion (Sep 29, 2015)

Wow, what colours that bowl have...!!

Bowl turning is a great thing to do and I let you know on a little secret, the next time you feel really upset and or pi$$ed off at someone, grab a big chunk of green wood and a carbide tool and, give it heaps, put your frustrations on the carbide gouge and let it rip, and get those big shavings fly thick and fast.

One you piece of advice, make sure the wood piece is securely fixed to the lathe, you don't want to endup with a chunk of wood, hitting you in the had, that my friend, will hurt...!

Cheers
George


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## 1080Wayne (Sep 29, 2015)

Lovely piece of wood for a beautiful bowl Edgar . Too bad so many nice pens got destroyed in making it .


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## Cwalker935 (Sep 29, 2015)

edohmann said:


> stonepecker said:
> 
> 
> > Good job Edgar.   See?  We all knew you could do it.
> ...




I was wondering how you were able to get almost a 90 degree turn inside the bowl. That is an interesting looking tool.


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## JimB (Sep 29, 2015)

Those are two beautiful works of art!


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## Edgar (Sep 29, 2015)

Cwalker935 said:


> edohmann said:
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> > stonepecker said:
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My dimensions on William's tool were a little off - the cutting edges are about 2.5" on one side & 6" on the other. The long edge helps to get nice straight sides inside the lidded box and the shorter side helps to get nice square mating surfaces between lid & box.

I actually did all the bowl hollowing with the Bowl Pro tool - the bowl was just large enough to get a good angle to make that sharp turn. It also helped to have a tool with such good balance & control. I did use my mini round EWT tool for the flared rim, but all other interior work was with the Bowl Pro.


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## Bob Wemm (Sep 30, 2015)

Glad to see you step outside the Pen Circle Edgar, bowls are a lot of fun. The shapes are all but infinite which gives you a great choice.
That is a beautiful piece of Pecan, and a great job turning it.
Thanks for sharing.

Bob.


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## Kragax (Sep 30, 2015)

Wow, Great looking bowl. I'm afraid to even try one, but you nailed it.


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## Edgar (Sep 30, 2015)

Bob Wemm said:


> Glad to see you step outside the Pen Circle Edgar, bowls are a lot of fun. The shapes are all but infinite which gives you a great choice.
> That is a beautiful piece of Pecan, and a great job turning it.
> Thanks for sharing.
> 
> Bob.



Thanks Bob - this was a lot of fun and seeing so many of your great bowls was a big part of my motivation to give it a shot. I'm hooked! Now I need a bigger lathe :biggrin:


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## Edgar (Sep 30, 2015)

Kragax said:


> Wow, Great looking bowl. I'm afraid to even try one, but you nailed it.



Thanks Craig - I was apprehensive for quite a while too. My best advice is to try to find an experienced bowl turner who is a good teacher to give you a demonstration or help you turn your first bowl. 

I watched a lot of videos and was pretty familiar with the basic steps & procedures. However, as with most things, the devil's in the details and it's sometimes hard to get that from a video. Just little things like how to stand and hold the tools for good balance & control, positioning the tool rest, how to make proper plunging & scraping cuts inside the bowl and so much more. 

You can learn a lot of this by trial & error, but having someone explain & demonstrate these things can really help speed up the learning process. I still have a lot to learn, but that 2 hours that I spent at Woodcraft was definitely worthwhile.


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## triw51 (Sep 30, 2015)

Beautiful pieces Edgar!  Nice shape on the bowl that accents the grain and splatting in the pecan.  The lidded box is beautiful also I like the way you matched the line up the side.  You did fantastic work on those.


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## Edgar (Sep 30, 2015)

triw51 said:


> Beautiful pieces Edgar!  Nice shape on the bowl that accents the grain and splatting in the pecan.  The lidded box is beautiful also I like the way you matched the line up the side.  You did fantastic work on those.



Thanks William, and thanks for the great lidded box tool. It really did help with squaring up the inside of the box and getting a good fit between the box & lid. 

After seeing the beautiful bowls that you made with some of my pecan wood, I just had to give it a try myself. I can't go much bigger than this with my little 10x18 lathe, so now I need to start saving my pennies for a real lathe.


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## triw51 (Sep 30, 2015)

SteveG said:


> edohmann said:
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> > D.Oliver said:
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To quote an excellent wood turner Jimmy Clewes "The pop is to impress other wood turners.  Most people buying boxes are ladies and they don't care one iota about the pop they want the lid to come off nicely."  (not a direct quote but what I remember).  So Edgar did it right for his beautiful granddaughter.  
I loved the picture of her with the spoon on her nose


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## Edgar (Sep 30, 2015)

triw51 said:


> I loved the picture of her with the spoon on her nose



It's one of my favorite pictures of her.

We were at a nice restaurant along with her parents when I showed her this trick. My wife about had a conniption fit at the time, but now she loves this photo too. 

I'm just glad that no one shot a picture of me when I had the spoon on my nose. :biggrin:


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