Oval bowls?

[Sean Hughto]

I'm curious as to folks' opinions as to letting bowls go oval and considering them finished as opposed to roughing and returning to a circle. I'm just beginning, but I would expect that over the months and years as the wood continues to breathe and depending upon the season, even the returned round ones will get a bit oval - at least at certain times of the year, no?

Personally, I rather like the personality of even fairly drastic ovals. Do you think this is just poor craftsmanship - like an unfinished base, or is it just an aesthetic choice that can work or not depending upon the piece?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Sean - it's all a matter of personal taste. There are a lot of folks who love warped bowls and the unique character they offer. Just as some folks love glossy finishes - some prefer a totally natural look. Play around with it, turn a few and see what you like!

[Mauricio Ulloa]

Hi,

I like oval bowls and natural edges. My choice..... Where I live, I get the wood green and it's easier to me to turn it that way. I finish the sanding of my bowls and I let them dry for a week or two.... Then I do the finishing.

For round bowls, I do a rough turning and let the bowl dry for two weeks to a month. Then I mount the bowl back in the lathe and re-turn it to final shape....

In the US you can easily get dried blanks to turn, then you don't have to worry too much about wood moisture and you can get them perfectly (or almost perfectly..) round......

Best Regards,

M

[Dick Strauss]

Sean,
I like oval bowls as well though I don't turn a lot of them. As Steve said, it's a matter of taste.

Mauricio,
Free green wood beats store bought wood any day of the week IMO. I like to get wood from folks trimming/removing trees. The only wood that I've purchased is wood that doesn't grow in the US. I buy less than 1% of my wood because I don't want to encourage folks to take down trees so I can turn something.

FYI-Around here, I can get all the ash I want...they are being removed because of the Emerald Ash Borer issue we have here locally.

[Scott Hackler]

I find that the amount of ovalness (my own word) is related to the different species. Maple does oval much on me but hackberry and oak oval like crazy. Every hackberry bowl I have done must be left plenty thick if I ever want to finish it round again. I still have a medium "pot" sitting on the shelf because it went completely oval and there isnt enough "meat" to turn round again. But that was one of my first roughed out bowls and I have learned a lot since then.

I dont like to make oval bowls because the power sander finishing method has severly spoiled me!!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sean I have to agree with Steve. Some like it, some don't. I am not fond of bowls that have warped if I turn them thin. But that is just me. I like gloss on some and satin on some. I just don't care for semi-gloss at all. Try a lot of things. Thats the fun of it.

[Mauricio Ulloa]

Sean,
I like oval bowls as well though I don't turn a lot of them. As Steve said, it's a matter of taste.

Mauricio,
Free green wood beats store bought wood any day of the week IMO. I like to get wood from folks trimming/removing trees. The only wood that I've purchased is wood that doesn't grow in the US. I buy less than 1% of my wood because I don't want to encourage folks to take down trees so I can turn something.

FYI-Around here, I can get all the ash I want...they are being removed because of the Emerald Ash Borer issue we have here locally.

Good for you Dick! Ash is a great wood to turn. By the way, I'm ignorant about the Emerald Ash Borer. What is it?

Thanks,

Mauricio

[Dick Strauss]

Mauricio,
NW Ohio it is the center of the battlefield so to speak.

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is an asian pest that gets under the bark of ash trees. It lays lots of eggs on the bark and then the larvae take over. The larvae dig into the bark and eat the outer bit of growing wood. This keeps the tree from getting any water/nutrients to the leaves. Usually the trees will die within a few years.

They suspect the original EAB infestation came from a Chinese shipping container delivered to Detroit, Michigan in 2002. The EAB is now in areas from Canada to New York, to Virginia to Missouri to Minnesota covering an area of several hundred thousand square miles. Tens of millions of ash trees are already dead and they expect the final number to be in the billions of lost trees! http://www.emeraldashborer.info/file...ate_EABpos.pdf

[Reed Gray]

I love the oval bowls, the more they warp, the more I like them. Around here, they sell very well. When I first started doing them, people would comment about the shapes, and I would explain about the drying and warping process, and they would exclaim, "They are so organic!" Well, now that is a selling point. Wood never stops moving, and some will move more than others, so all bowls will warp to some degree.

On the practical side, I prefer to turn them once and be done with it rather than twice turning them. They dry in about 10 days. Sanding can be a problem, you have to power sand, and having really slow speed (10 to 20 rpm) is almost a necessity.

I do use the LDD soak (1/2 cheap liquid dish washing detergent, and 1/2 water, for 24 hours, rinse, wrap with newspaper on the outside, secure to the rim with plastic stretch film like you put around boxes on a pallet and dry). This just makes the wood a lot easier to sand out.

I don't think I have ever done a twice turned bowl. Just too much work.

robo hippy