Recomendations for bowl turning video

[Eugene Wigley]

Hello everyone, I'm slipping deeper into the vortex. I would like to turn some 24" to 36" bowls. Does anyone know of a book or video or other resource that deals with turning large bowls. What species work best, how to mount the blanks, best ways to dry the bowls with minimal checking and any other issues that I may need to consider.

Thanks in advance.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Eugene there are two I would recommend. IMHO Bill Grumbines "Turned Bowls Made Easy" and Mike Mahoney's "From The Tree To The Table." I have studied these two and will take you through all the questions that you have.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Eugene,

+1 for Bill Grumbine's "Turned Bowls Made Easy".

[Steve Schlumpf]

Another vote for Grumbine's video!

[David Walser]

Eugene,

There are lots of good bowl videos out there. I'm not aware of any that focus on turning 20"+ bowls. I like and recommend the videos from Bill Grumbine and Mike Mahoney; however, if I could only have one bowl video, it would be Bowl Basics the Easy Way by Lyle Jamieson. It may be the best woodturning video, on any topic, that I've seen. Lyle covers how to harvest blanks from a fallen tree, how to mount the blanks on the lathe (and why you shouldn't turn them round on a bandsaw), how to prepare the rough turned blanks for drying, etc. Lyle has a strong opinion about just about everything and he clearly tells you not just how to do something but why it should be done. In the end, you may not agree with everything he says (I didn't), but you'll learn a lot and you'll change the way you think about turning.

[cliff smith]

i agree biil and mike have excellent videos on bowls, i like lyles video he explains everything very well but i too find him very opinioned and critical of methods other than his but never the less a great video .

[Gordon Seto]

I am not aware of any video on turning "mini bathtub". I am sure you should have well passed beyond the basic techniques. Your questions may have been more specific to the weight & size of such monster blanks.

You may have to ask turners who do this scale of work directly for guidance. Woodturners have the cultural of sharing their knowledge.

Probably you won't find any referral from the mini lathe forums. You may want to try the VB-36 distributors, and ask for names of turners who do this kind of work.

[Terry Quiram]

Eugene

If you are turning small bowls the proceedure is the same.

First of all unless you are prepared to spend a day shaping and hollowing your big bowl I would advise getting or borrowing a coring rig. Big bowls are A LOT OF WORK! My largest has been 28". I prefer wall thickness to be less than 10% of the diameter to shorten drying time but never go less than 1.5". I leave the bottom thinner than the walls. I mount the blank on a worm screw in a Stronghold chuck. I use the tail stock with live center. The tennon is as large as I can make for clamping with the large jaw set. I alcohol soak and put the piece into one of those yard waste paper bags and dry for 6 to 10 weeks before re-turning.

The inertia of a large heavy blank is awesome. Be extra careful. You will need help mounting the blank to your lathe. You can not take very aggressive cuts as you will stall your lathe. If you don't core keep a scoop shovel handy. Sanding takes forever and a big bowl will drink up a quart of finish.

Use the straightest tree and plainest wood you can find to help minimize distortion. My recommendation for wood is Hard Maple. I love this wood more every time I turn it.

[Roger Wilson]

+1 on Bill Grumbine's videos. He's a fine teacher and has a dry sense of humor, even when turning green.

Ted Sokolowski has a fine video on turning Peppermills.

Richard Raffans box video is very good as well.

[Dave Ogren]

Eugene,

I think you asked a great question. I am wanting to do the same thing. The hard part for me is when I get to over a 11 or 12 " dia. I start to get catches on the inside, and I can't figure it out. I almost get a little gouge shy. The outside is a piece of cake. I am also in NC maybe we can both learn. Do you have a machine large enough to turn a 24 to 36" dia. bowl ?? Keep in touch, and if I learn something that will help I will let you know.

Dave

[Eugene Wigley]

Thanks for the advice guys. I went to the local woodcraft to get Bills video. Their computer said they had 2 of them. They were not able to find them. I will order it.

Terry, thanks for the pointers, those are all things I am concerned about. I will probably do like 18" to 20" first then move up.

Dave, I am still new to woodturning. The largest bowl I have turned that made it to the 2nd turning is a 14" sweetgum bowl. As for the lathe I have a 3520B. I don't think I would try a 36" bowl on it. I am planning on getting a large bowl lathe. (soon I hope)
I am glad to see you are in NC. What part of NC? I am in Harnett County near Raleigh where Barney goes to party.

Thanks again everyone.

EDIT
Dave I should have looked closer. I see you are in Asheville. I will pass on any information I get or experiences I have with the large bowls.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Did you search you tube? I once saw a guy turn an absolutely huge walnut tree. It was in 4 video parts. Try searching for walnut bowl or something similar.

Bill's videos are great, but if you're looking to turn over 20" bowls, you may be past his instruction level. But, one can always learn.