Too many funnels

[Burt Alcantara]

Made one of my better bowls last night. Good design, nice flat bottom, no ridges, smooth as a baby's butt. Time to take off the tenon and light shines through. Arrggggghhhhh! Another funnel!

My ratio of funnels to usable bowls is very high. What can I do to eliminate this?

I will admit that I don't use a consistent nor accurate way to measure bottoms.

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Burt

[Paul Heely]

For measuring I'm using the device Bill describes in his first video. Its a simple stick with 2 dowels through it. In the picture its the wooden thing stuck behind the conduit next to the tools on the wall.

You use the 2 rods to measure the depth of the bowl and then you can line up the rods with them both on the outside to transfer the depth to the outside so you can see how much is between the foot and inside depth.

If nobody else comes up with a better explanation or pictures I'll try and take some pictures tonight that explain how its used, its pretty simple once you see how its done.

[Lee DeRaud]

I usually stuff a 1-1/2" forstner bit in the tailstock and drill a depth hole: when the center spur mark disappears, I know I'm in the suburbs of Funneltown...smoothing cuts only from that point on.

(Purists may point out that I'm only doing this to compensate for my crummy hollowing technique, to which I plead "guilty".)

[Reed Gray]

I have a simple jig that I use, a tape measure, and a cheater stick. The cheater stick is a stick that is cut to the exact measure from the headstock to the jaws of your chuck, in my case, 4 3/8 inches. I measure from the headstock to the rim of the bowl, sighting across the rim of the bowl, say 10 inches. I then place the cheater stick on the tape at 10 inches, with the long part of the stick on the short side (the other end would read 5 5/8 inches). Now stick it into the center of the bowl. The distance between the end of the cheater stick and the rim of the bowl is the measure of how thick the woods from your tape measure to the jaws of the chuck. This is accurate to less than 1/16 of an inch. You can do the same thing with a natural edge bowl. Since you can't get an accurate edge to sight across, place a square on the ways of the lathe (or on a piece of plywood), and use it as the edge of your bowl to measure back from.
robo hippy

[Quinn McCarthy]

Hang in there.

It took me 2 years to finally get my first bowl from the lathe. Get Bill Grumbines first video. It is invaluable.

Quinn

[Burt Alcantara]

Paul,
I just downloaded Bill's jig and will attempt to build it this afternoon.

Lee.
Something about my brain does not let me stop when I hit the bottom of a hole. I think this is because I still can't get a smooth, ridgeless bottom so I keep going and eventually dig my way to daylight.

Reed,
This is an interesting concept. I've tried measuring in the past but I'm always off and eventually ending up, you know where. However, I like your idea and will try it or find a way for a simpleton to use.

Thanks guys,
Burt

[Paul Heely]

Burt, I didn't realize Bill had the jig and directions on his web page. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Mike Vickery]

I made a simple jig that I use on all of my bowls and can tell exactly where the bottom is every time. It is actually based on a jig Bill had in his second video to use for natural edge bowls. http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/nebowldepthgauge.jpg
The only difference is instead of the vertical piece of wood I use a laser pointer. Takes about 10 seconds to use, just slide it on the lathe bed until the stick at the centerline (I uses a small metal rod) hits the bottom of the bowl and press the button on the laser pointer. No moving part and no setup or adjustment.
Sorry no picture of it, but you should get the idea.

[Burt Alcantara]

Mike,
That's a great idea. Bet the cats would like it too.

Burt

[Bernie Weishapl]

Burt I use a figure 8 calipars on the smaller bowls and lidded boxes. When the bowl is bigger than those I use Bill Grumbines setup to find the bottom of the bowls.

[Burt Alcantara]

I've used the figure eight without much success. Part of the reason is there is usually too much width so the measurement is at angle. For boxes, I can't the the 8 in. I'm tempted to buy one of those things that resemble a half circle - you put the straight section into the box/bowl and the circular section on the bowl/box. This gives a visual indication of where the bottom is. Guess I'm too cheap to buy one.

I will try the suggestions presented in this thread.

Burt

[Bill Grumbine]

I made a simple jig that I use on all of my bowls and can tell exactly where the bottom is every time. It is actually based on a jig Bill had in his second video to use for natural edge bowls. http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/nebowldepthgauge.jpg
The only difference is instead of the vertical piece of wood I use a laser pointer. Takes about 10 seconds to use, just slide it on the lathe bed until the stick at the centerline (I uses a small metal rod) hits the bottom of the bowl and press the button on the laser pointer. No moving part and no setup or adjustment.
Sorry no picture of it, but you should get the idea.

Since it has been mentioned about the laser, I am going to go ahead and say I have two prototypes of a commercially produced jig of this design on their way to my shop right now, both with a laser option. I should have them early next week. If anyone is interested in what they look like, I will be glad to post some pictures.

[Burt Alcantara]

Pictures please.
Burt

[Mike Vickery]

I want royalties!

Just kidding I am kind of suprised I have never seen them before. It seems like a natural progression with the use of laser for measureing wall thickness in hollow forms.
Not to bad mouth the companies making it but I am a little suprised. They are so easy to make I would expect most woodworkers to just make them. A $10 laser pointer, shop scraps and less then 10 minutes and you have one. Mine was made as a prototype just held together with brads and it worked so good I never remade it.

[Bill Grumbine]

Well, you would think that Mike, but my own personal research has shown that despite my one gauge being on the internet for almost 8 years now, and thousands of videos sold, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 people have actually made one of these things. I have demonstrated and taught from Toronto to Tampa, From Cape Cod to the banks of the Mississippi, and everywhere I go I talk to people who have my video or have spent considerable time on my website.

Them: I am having trouble with the thickness of the bottom of my bowls.

Me: Did you make the bowl gauge I show in the video?

Them: No, but I want to get around to it one of these days.

So I got to thinking, this sounds like a sales opportunity. So, we are making them up and I will be testing the prototype starting next week. I had originally thought about a laser in the one I used in the second video, but I did not have time to build it that way before filming started. But, lasers are sexy, and they "make everything work better", so we are equipping it with an option for a laser as well as an old fashioned stick.

Please note: I am not trying to advertise here, just discussing what is going on in my shop relative to the discussion at hand. I will post a picture or two of what I am working on, but I won't tell anyone where to get it!