First Bowl Pic

[Steve Mathews]

Here's are a few pics of my first bowl ....... that didn't blow up. It's just glued together construction lumber so please excuse the cracks. I must've watched Robo Hippy's bowl roughing video a dozen or more times, each time picking up something new. Still haven't scored on any REAL wood yet so may have to buy some blanks to satisfy my itch. I finally put to rest some of the problems with my last attempts. Reed was correct in one of his comments that my tools were probably not sharp enough and may that may have been the reason for some of the rough cuts. I spent an afternoon going over sharpening techniques, etc. with my Wolverine setup and I think some improvements were made. I is a woodturner now!

001.jpg 002.jpg

[daryl moses]

If you can do that good of a job on construction lumber you are well on your way. You will see a remarkable difference in your cuts when you use a quality piece of wood.
I wish you were closer, I have 60 acres of trees on my property, I seldom cut one down as there is always one falling on it's own accord it seems. If your ever out this way i'll load you up.
Nice looking bowl, you did good!!

[Greg Parrish]

Looking good!

[Thomas Canfield]

Nice job. I would encourage you to try turning 2x6 or 2x8 without gluing sections to get some fast learning curve turning the outside and inside of bowls and learning tool control and sharpening to avoid tearout. There are a lot of different shapes you can turn and scrap wood works fine. Be looking for some green wood which is a lot better getting the long shavings. Have fun.

[Damon McLaughlin]

I too started with construction grade lumber, its a great (and inexpensive) way to learn. Your bowl looks great. I agree with trying some 2x6 or 2x8s, maybe with a glue block.

[Adam Petersen]

That looks really nice. I like the form and I like the way the rings on the construction lumber are so prominent.

[Steve Mathews]

Nice job. I would encourage you to try turning 2x6 or 2x8 without gluing sections to get some fast learning curve turning the outside and inside of bowls and learning tool control and sharpening to avoid tearout. There are a lot of different shapes you can turn and scrap wood works fine. Be looking for some green wood which is a lot better getting the long shavings. Have fun.

Thanks Thomas! Are you suggesting non-glued pieces for convenience or some other reason? I was thinking about your comment last night and wondered if it might be for some safety reason like the glued joints coming apart while turning.

[Aaron Craven]

Excellent work! Pine is prone to tear-out and it looks like you have some nice clean cuts here, so it looks like you're picking it up quickly.

Early on when I had a hard time finding turning blanks I did a lot of glue-ups (mostly maple and cedar in my case). It's a great way to use scrap pieces that aren't really big enough for much else.

[Thomas Canfield]

QUOTE=Steve Mathews;2670655]Thanks Thomas! Are you suggesting non-glued pieces for convenience or some other reason? I was thinking about your comment last night and wondered if it might be for some safety reason like the glued joints coming apart while turning.[/QUOTE]

I am suggesting non-glued for convenience and fast way to see your progress. I would also suggest going to the bandsaw and cutting some of the turnings in half or sections to let you look at the wall thickness and curves.IMG_1638.JPG

This shows some shape to turn after practice working up to the square wings and sharp cormers where wings intersect bowl.