Newbie bowl turning question

[Joe Melton]

Today I decided to try to make a small bowl on my Carba-Tec mini lathe. I've never turning anything like this before.
I started with a 4x4x2 piece of walnut which I trimmed off a 2x4 I have. The outside was pretty easy to fashion into a nice shape. I sanded down to 2000 grit and then mounted the blank to cut out the inside, using a Penn State chuck clutched on the tenon I turned as the base. I set up the tool rest parallel to what would be the open end of the bowl and started removing material with my spindle gouge. Things were going well until the gouge caught and the blank went flying. I'll find it some day, I guess.
I mounted another blank and turned the outside the same way. When I mounted it to turn the inside, I used the tail stock with a live center to hold the bowl firmly in place. Using the same 1/4" spindle gouge, I managed to get quite a bit of the material out of the inside, and left a small pillar in the center leading to the live center. With the tail stock in place, I was not able to get close enough to the edge to make the bowl as thin as I wanted. I dismounted the bowl and broke off the pillar, and it looks pretty good. Now I need to finish the inside.
Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing.
Should I complete the finish on the outside before doing the inside? If I finish all the lathe work on the entire bowl, then there is no way (that I know of) to mount the bowl with the outside completely exposed for sanding and finishing.
What tools do I need to cut the inside of the bowl? I'm thinking about running over to Home Depot and getting one of the Delta sets they are closing out, if they're still available.
Thanks for any advice and encouragement.
Joe

[Michael Stafford]

Joe, you need a bowl gouge which differs significantly in profile from a spindle gouge. The bowl gouge has a deeper profile. You could also turn the bowl with a round nose scraper. My concern would be that you would have to be careful how you used the bowl gouge as the Carba-Tec may not have enough power to remove the chip that a large gouge can remove. As usual no guarantee expressed or implied...

[robert hainstock]

Lose the spindle gauge before you hurt yourself. That is a lesson I learned the hard way. The round nose scraper, or rhe bowl gauge,(small maybe 3/8). hte psinlle gauge won't cut end grain without a huge, scary catch. good luck with the project.
Bob

[Ben Gastfriend]

Definitley get a bowl gouge. Using a spindle or roughing gouge on a bowl is DANGEROUS! I found out the hard way. I went over to PSI and bought a cheapie $20 bowl gouge, which is now my favorite tool. I'd definitley completely turn and sand the outside of the bowl before you turn the inside, then hollow out the inside with the bowl gouge. Then sand and finish the inside. You now have a couple options for finishing off the tenon that is gripped in your chuck. You can either use a vaccum chuck (quite expensive), a set of cole jaws (limited to full, round bowls, no natural edge bowls in cole jaws), or a jam chuck. (Do a SMC Search.)

Good luck!

[Dale Gregory]

You can either use a vaccum chuck (quite expensive), a set of cole jaws (limited to full, round bowls, no natural edge bowls in cole jaws), or a jam chuck. (Do a SMC Search.)

Good luck!

To add to Ben's message.....
Or a donut chuck, they hold quite well, easy and cheap to make, and you can totally remove the tail stock for finishing off the bottom after using it to help center/alignment of the bowl. All of these methods work.

Dale

[Bernie Weishapl]

As was said before, lose the spindle gouge before a accident happens. Get yourself a bowl gouge. I did like Ben did and my first bowl gouge was from PSI. I don't know why but it is still my favorite bowl gouge and cost like $20. Do a search and make yourself a donut chuck to finish the bottom.

[Gordon Seto]

Get the 1st DVD from Bill Grumbine "Turn Bowl Made Easy". It is a complete course on bowl turning 101 & 102. Learn the correct way, the safe way.

AAW Local Chapter Listing - The American Association of Woodturners
Find a local chapter to join their meeting. It will shorten your learning curve.

Gordon

[Dave Stoler]

I second what Mr Seto said. I just watched the Bill Grumbine video and it is enlightening!
Print is great and will clear up many mystery,s , but theres nothing like video to really make a point. Mr Grumbine had 1 catch during both his video,s (and it wasn,t wood). Plus he is entertaining..

[Ken Massingale]

Another suggestion to get Bill's videos. If you're stretched for $$$ the videos are available to rent at smartflix.com.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Joe - lots of good advice so far and all of it valid! Only thing I would like to add is to remember we all like photos. I look forward to seeing one of your bowls!

[Gordon Seto]

Another suggestion to get Bill's videos. If you're stretched for $$$ the videos are available to rent at smartflix.com.

If you are stretch for $$$$ (who isn't once you enter his vortex), the best value is jointing local clubs.
I belong to two, the membership fee is only $20 per year. Both have very good collection of books and videos, free for members to borrow. There is no deposit on books, there is a $10 refundable deposit on each video. You only have to return the borrowed material at the next meeting and get the deposit back. You can watch them for one month with no return shipping. Both Clubs have hands-on programs after every other meeting for around $5 to cover the material. NCWT (NCWT.org) is having Bill Grumbine whole day demo in March and BWWT (NCWT.org) will have Dave Hout in May.
At the Show and Tell table, you can see, run your fingers over the piece and turn it upside down to study every piece. You will get a lot of inspiration; most of the time the maker would share some insights with you if you ask. The only thing we are expected to do is handle them with care and clean our fingers off the cream and gel from those donuts. How to make the piece looking good and feeling good, without any trace of chucking evidence would take you to the next level easier and faster.

I am not against the classes from stores. It all depends who the instructors are. The classes all emphasis taking a finish turning home. Because the restrain of time, students may only show some short cuts that work for that particular project and never given a complete lesson. Sometimes the finish project may even have too much of the instructor's final cuts.
Most of the classes are project oriented, there is no sequence for taking the classes. You may be taking the fourth class and ready to go to the next level, but there are classmates that is their 1st class. Valuable time would be wasted going over the stuff you have listened to.
I would highly recommend a week long classes:
http://www.folkschool.org/index.php?...&subject_id=46
http://www.arrowmont.org/registratio....html&cart_id=
Or find a professional turner who has a teaching studio nearby and some friends to share a two or three day classes.

Gordon

[Wendell Marsh]

I run across thiss thread the other night before last and read some of it. Then last night I read the rest of it. I to am fairly new to turning and larning. I to had hsd the same problems with the catching when trying to turn the inside of a bowel. I thought it was just that I had not larned how to use the gouge right yes spindle gouge. I kept at broke a number of bowels and lids. But after working with it for a long time I don't do to bad just a catch here and there. But now after reading this I fully unstand why I am still having that problem. So to take care of that problem I drove to Grizzly's yesterday and bought my self a new Robert Sorby spindle not but a Bowel Gouge. I went with a 3/8 for now thinking it would be the best all around size. If it wasn't that I wanted to try it out right away I would have waited for the Wood Show that is coming up soon and checked them out there. But who says I still can't boys never have enough toys. Grandpa Wen