A study in technique was going great and then......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

So........Last saturday I rough turned my first bowl....a lttle thing out of 4"x4"x4" wet cherry. The John Hart piece of cherry was 4x4x33 and developed some severe cracks and I thought I'd better use it. Saturday I roughed out a little bowl and it was in the DNA bath until this evening. Tonight it went to a window ledge for drying and darkening. In the meantime, Monday I found a relative local supplier of dry wood. These folks have a tremendous variety of woods in 4/4 and 8/4 and are willing to order anything. So....I bought 2' of 8/4 maple and 1' of 4/4 purpleheart thinking I'd glue up 2 - 6"x6"x6" dry bowl blanks to turn while I"m waiting on the cherry to soak and dry. Last night I roughed out the outside of a crude bowl after regrinding my bowl gouge to an Irish grind. I actually spent most of the evening learning how to grind the gouge properly. This evening I watched Bill Grumbine's video...specifically the finish turning portion (I've viewed the whole thing a number of times) and went to the shop. I finish turned the bowl I'd started last night. Things went better than I expected. Using Bill's method I was able to use my Irish ground bowl gouge to get down within 1/8 of the finished bottom. Then using my little round nose scraper (not really a beefy scraper like real bowl turners use) I finished the interior. Not what you'd call a classic form but remember this was a lesson trying new techniques on dried maple/purpleheart/maple sandwich. Folks......Bill's techniques work well even for a beginner like me. His video is invaluable!

I know now if I make another bowl with this high side form I'll want to buy the bowl buffing system from Beal..........While my interior sanding and turning went well....the interior bottom just doesn't finish as well. .........And.......the top "slice" of maple had a knot in it........a big knot in it........I thought......hey.....if it sticks with the wood....it's character.......if it leaves while turning.........it's a form of NE..........Well the biggest part of the knot launched when I was well into turning the interior.........No Problem...my version of and first NE..........but then....while I was buffing.......another piece on the opposite side of the bowl launched and a large crack developed from it........This was dried stuff.....ain't supposed to happen theoretically.........some much for theory..........I debated showing photos of this........but...a number of you are "shareholders" and while it's a meager return on your investment......you deserve a physical report...........so here it is.......my first bowl.....kiln dried maple/purpleheart/maple.........5 1/2"x4"...sides about 3/8" thick...bottom about 5/8" thick..finish is Myland's friction polish and Beal buffing system when and where possible....kind of an oversized cereal bowl (sorry Andy) form........but I suppose it could hold ice cream if you ate it quick before it melted and ran out the crack.......

Comments, critiques and suggestions for future bowl finishes welcome!

[Chuck Beland]

Ken,
The imperfection I think gives it a lot of character. Beautiful colors Congrats.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I think it looks great, but, if I were you, I'd get out the carving tools and do a little carving on that "Chunk" that went AWOL, that way it would be hand carved "Art"

Seriously, you have to make some lemonade here.

Great job, love the color combos, if this is your first, then we can all expect more great stuff from you!

VERY much enjoy what you are doing Ken!

Cheers!

[David Fried]

IT'S A BOWL!!!!!

Somehow you seem to have missed that important point while focusing on the knot and other issues. Congrats!!! Nice glue up and great job.

I think you need to go easy on the ice cream and compensate with mounds of whipped cream!

Think of what a dream the Cherry bowl will be aafftteerr tthhiiss oonnee!!

[John Hart]

I think you've created a keeper Ken. Sure beats the heck out of my first bowl...Which wasn't a keeper....In fact, it was down right ugly. But this one has lots of character, and your wall thickness is good. It'll look good in a room somewhere.

[Jim Dunn]

Ken looks good to me. Put it right back up on the window and add a price tag of $35.00. Instant art!

[doug webb]

Sometimes things break. But look at all the things that went right with this bowl. I think it is great. You are really headed in the right direction, better n better........Keep them coming.

[Andy Hoyt]

Hey, Ken - I got so many of those so called defective things lying around here I bet I could find a piece to fill that missing section for you. Nice first bowl, and you've made this sharecropper proud.

On the other hand, you could always remount it with a jamb chuck and turn the defects away thereby creating a saucer from which your kitty could lick melted Peppermint Stick ice cream

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ken you did good. Has nice character. Nice finish.

[Don Baer]

Hey Ken,
Great looking bowl. At least it's still a bowl.. I was practicing my end grain turning last night and managed to turn a piece of scrap into some shreaded sawdust. I wanted to see how thn I could turn before it exploded on me.. . Oh well better on a piece of scrap then on a piece I want to make into something.

[Dennis Peacock]

Great looking bowl Ken!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of you. Shoot, I feel like a proud papa in berthing another turner to the world of bowls.

A couple of things I've learned are:

Spend more time on the coarser grits.
Use lite sanding pressure, sharp sandpaper cuts fast and cleaner that dull sandpaper.
By spending more time on the coarse grits, the sanding time with the finer grits goes faster.
Clean off the sanding dust between grits.

This will make a lot of difference in the final finish of each bowl or platter you turn.

So there....I'm all out of wisdom for today.

[Ed Scolforo]

Ya done good, Ken! You're on a roll now!
Ed