Laminated Bowl

[John M. Smith]

I have no idea if there is a better way.The way you do them look great!!!!! I was wondering if you arranged the different woods in a particular order to the great looking spiral that you do? For example, do you keep a lighter bunch on one side versus a light bunch of wood on both sides of the glue up? Sides being on either side of centerline. Or are they put totally random?

Also, what width pieces of wood do you use?

Thanks, John

[robert baccus]

You really did set the curve--Wow.

[Bill Bulloch]

John, I think you are going to find that everything with these is pretty much random. If you do enough of them then you might be able to predict how a certain grouping will play out, but I have done 7 or 8 so far and have been surprised with the outcome of each one. Just play with it, random widths, random woods, random patterns and see what you get. They can get expensive though, so I might suggest that you start with a small bowl, say 6 or 7 inches that way you use less wood, spend less time with it and less money. For example, this one took about two weeks to build and has about $125.00 worth of wood in it. I would have really been disappointed had it not worked out to my liking.

Dennis Edwards has a video on YouTube that does a great job of demonstrating the approach, and there is a lot of discussion and a tutorial on the Segmented Woodturning Forum.

Good Luck.

[John M. Smith]

Thanks for all the help Bill. Think I will take your advice and so a small one first. Maybe use cherry maple walnut oak poplar and some veneers. Will be inexpensive that way.