2nd Bowl - Failure (Beginners luck is over)

[Aaron Buys]

Well my second bowl didn't turn out as good as my first. Worked into the early morning and ran out of bowl. There was some punky wood in the blank that kept tearing out so I kept sanding it trying to help it blend in. Little did I know I was wearing the bottom of the bowl dangerously thin. While parting off the waste block trying to make a nice recess the pressure from the tailstock popped the tenon through the bottom. Is it common for bowls to fail just as you are almost ready to be finished with them? Murphy's Law sort of thing I suppose.

Question: What can be done with this "doughnut" of a bowl? The rest of it looks awfully nice. Assuming I can make the hole uniform...Is it worth keeping and combining with a contrasting pedestal or something? Suggestions?

[Donny Lawson]

Well, since I've not blown the bottom out of one yet I cannot help much. That is a nice piece and I know it can be saved. Hopefully someone will head you in the right direction and give some good advise. Good luck and I would like to see what you come up with.

[David E Keller]

That's too bad, Aaron... I've done it a number of times and will probably do it again soon.

Depending on the size, it would make a very attractive hood for a dust collector! I'm personally not a fan of plugging the hole, but others have had good luck with that approach.

[Scott Lux]

What can be done with this "doughnut" of a bowl?

Funny you should ask. I was thinking about this last night. If it's a small bowl say 3"-5", it could be made into a bangle bracelet, or with some cutting/carving, a nice cuff.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Pretty wood! Instead of spending time trying to fix something - grab another piece of wood and get started on #3! Lesson learned!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Done that a time or two. I keep one close to the lathe as a reminder. When I first started turning I would square the bottom and glue on a piece of contrasting wood
then finish the bottom. These days they go into the firewood pile.

[Michael James]

I think it's a right of passage, much like putting the boat in the water without the drain plug in. Hopefully, a 1x learning.

[Chip Sutherland]

Keep it and put is aside as a lesson learned. Move on and keep learning. But don't throw the bowl away. Come back to it when you have advanced your skill enough to understand how to fix it. It'll be a keeper when you fix it. And you'll have a great story to tell about how you saved it.

[Dan Forman]

Too bad, was shaping up to be a really good looking bowl. I probably wouldn't bother fixing it, just move on to the next.

Dan

[Jim Burr]

I used to do that a lot!! Clean up the hole...glue a block of something cool looking to cover about 1/2" overlap and turn it down with a foot. Shazaam!!!

[Roland Martin]

I use mine for oil changes. That's a real purdy funnel, you ought to be proud!
I always say, if you never mess up, you never do anything.

[Lee Koepke]

I am of the school of thought that you should hang on to that .... it can be fixed and one of these days, you will find a suitable solution. Thats a darn nice piece of wood, keep it around and a solution will present itself.

A Doughnut chuck would give you a chance to clean up the hole and put in a plug/foot/accent.

[James Combs]

I dislike loosing all my labor when something like that happens so I am in the school of "Repair It". Here was my solution for a similar happening. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ent&highlight=

[John Hart]

Ya know...you could just open that hole a little more, and stick it around the neck of a little dog to keep him from....um....cleaning himself.

[Dick Wilson]

Aaron,

Off the top of my head - a suggestion:

1. Depending on the diameter ( and if you have cole jaws/jumbo jaws ) put the bowl in the cole jaws and clean up the hole. 2. If you have another piece of the same spaulted wood glue it on the bottom - this will be the bowl base.
3. Turn a tenon for your chuck in the bowl base.
4. Put the base in your chuck and using a round nose scraper turn a small bowl where the hole is. Make sure the small bowl is perfectly smooth. No tearout, etc.
5. Jam chuck the bowl and turn off the base the way you want to. REMEMBER - YOU HAVE MADE A SMALL BOWL IN THE CENTER. DON'T MAKE A DOUBLE FUNNEL!!
6. Now is your time to learn metal leafing if you have not already done it. Metal leaf the small bowl in the center. Pick the color you want.

Good luck, Dick

Grand Master of "Fixing the Oops"