Bowl Blanks

[NOCO Jim]

There is a man in his 90's who occasionally sells turned bowls, often cherry, often quite large, at a gallery where I sell.  
He has not made much new in some time.  
The gallery attendant was telling me he has run low on bowl blanks and, at his age, finds the work of preparing new ones too hard.  
Does anyone here have experience preparing bowl blanks?  
I do have a fair bit of cherry on our land.

[metalspinner]

I have observed turners have their
own methods.  Are you wishing to help the man with prepped blanks? If so, you can ask him what he starts with. 
It could also be the weight of the blanks is his limiting factor. Most bowl turners start with green blanks to rough out the bowl which is Then set that aside to dry, distort, etc. 
At a later date the dried, roughed out blank (much lighter weight) is returned to the lathe for completion. 

[NOCO Jim]

Yes, I want to help him with blanks if I can.  
This is what I was curious about.  I was not sure if the green blanks should dry for a period of time first.   
Roughing them out makes sense, more surface area, less depth for moisture to hide in, but still enough material to minimize cracks (?). 
I really should consult with him, of course, but he is a couple towns over and you guys are close at hand.  
Are the roughed blanks then sealed? 
 I suppose I could possibly rough out blanks with my arbortech on an angle grinder.

[btulloh]

Don't rough 'em out.  Turners want all their options open. Like said above, best to rough turn when green, let dry then finish the job. Regular blanks will get oval as they dry, so they leave enough wood to make round again.  Burl us a whole 'nother thing because grain is unpredictable. Everybody has their own favorite way of drying a roughed out bowl. 

[GAB]

NOCO Jim:
This is the way I cut bowl blanks.  I'm sure it is not the only way.
I load the log on the mill, then adjust it so that the top of the log is parallel to the mill bed, and take a cut looking for a 3" to 5" flat spot.  Then rotate 180° and repeat.  Then adjust the log so the pith is parallel to the bed.  Then saw a perfectly quartersawn board out of the center.  The thickness is dependent on the diameter of the log and the shape of the pith.
Then, measure the width of the piece to be cut into blanks and cut the blanks to be 2" longer than their middle width.
Then wax all cut surfaces twice.
The reason for the flat spots is so that the blanks are easier to handle when cutting them round (usually on a band saw) prior to mounting them on the lathe.
The reason for taking the pith out of the center is so that the turner does not have to remove it when he is shaping the bowl.  Most bowls with pith on the edge will fail while drying.
Hope this helps you,
GAB
 

[beenthere]

Make Bowl Blank - How To Video - YouTube

[rusticretreater]

As noted by GAB, you want to cut logs lengthwise into two halves.  Bowls are not cut into end grain, but "sideways" through the grain.  It is good practice to remove the piths from the halves.

It is easier to dry the blanks if they are roughed out, but different methods are used to control the drying than in the solid blanks.  Bowl blanks will dry and shrink along the long grain(moisture leaving through the end grain). Over time, the roughed bowl blank will become oval, so a fairly thick 1 1/2"-2" roughed out bowl will have enough wood to be turned round again.

I also seal the sides of the bowl or solid blanks that have end grain showing.  So two sides are sealed with the long grain left exposed on the other sides.

Various method of drying blanks are air drying, putting in a paper bag or box filled with wood shavings of the same type of wood, desiccant drying, microwaving or using a kiln.  All of those methods are detailed online and in vids.

[Den-Den]

I turn a fair number of bowls and prepare the blanks just like the video posted, it is important to cut the blank from fresh wood that has not started to dry and crack.  Unless I am going directly from the bandsaw to the lathe, I seal the blank with Anchorseal.  Even a fresh blank coated with Anchor seal can NOT be stored very long, it WILL crack as it dries.  Once the blank is rough turned (thickness about 10% of the diameter), I coat it again with Anchorseal to slow down drying.  It will warp and a few of them will crack.  It takes two or three months for the roughed out bowl to dry enough to be final turned.

[NOCO Jim]

This all is making me want to try turning myself!  No pecan up here but plenty of cherry and maple.  
 If any turners are interested in sharing images of work you have done I would love to see it.
Thanks for the insights and the video share.      

[rusticretreater]

Approach wood turning like you do sawmilling.  Start small and make sure you want to do it.  You can spend the rest of your life buying tools for wood turning.  I started with a 1954 Delta HomeCraft Lathe I bought for $400.  Now I am at the other end with a Oneway 2436.

A few creations that I have made.   Black walnut Pepper mill and salt shaker.  Ambrosia Maple with Walnut finial. The last one is Red Cedar.



 

 

[Walnut Beast]

Rustic very nice! And great information! Beenthere nice information!

I've got a few bowls that I got at silent auction that I'll post but I really never paid much attention on the blanks and making of the bowl turning. Everyone great information you guys are posting!!!

[beenthere]

Got this spalted hackberry bowl on an FF auction 2015. Beautiful work, and looking for the forum name of member who put it up for auction.


 

[Den-Den]

This all is making me want to try turning myself!  No pecan up here but plenty of cherry and maple.  
If any turners are interested in sharing images of work you have done I would love to see it.
Thanks for the insights and the video share.      

It can be an addicting hobby.  Cherry and maple are great turning woods.  This one is Sweet Gum


 

[Den-Den]

"Got this spalted hackberry bowl on an FF auction 2015. Beautiful work, and looking for the forum name of member who put it up for auction."

That looks familiar, is it signed by Dennis Ford?

[NOCO Jim]

Those are really quite nice.  I am going to have to make time to visit this local turner and see what I can learn.  There is so much possibility, I wish I had several lifetimes.  Thanks for sharing.

[beenthere]

"Got this spalted hackberry bowl on an FF auction 2015. Beautiful work, and looking for the forum name of member who put it up for auction."

That looks familiar, is it signed by Dennis Ford?

Dennis
Indeed it is, and thank you for the reply. I've been looking a lot today to find your member name. It is a beautiful piece of work and I thank you for the opportunity to have it (and to contribute to the FF auction too! ).

Spalted Hackberry turning in General Woodworking

[Walnut Beast]

Spalted hackberry is amazing looking! 

[kantuckid]

I turned and sold enough bowls to have both hands needing CTS release surgery ~ 21/22 years ago. Now I carve very few and most are hand carved with a gouge. 
 There are more modern methods in use now, but mine were all rough turned to about 1" thick after some air drying, then hand coated heavily with paste wax, plastic bagged in a bunch of shavings and tossed aside until final turning. I did lots of spalted apple from antique standard trees that went under water at Paintsville Lake in Johnson & Morgan CO, KY. Not easy to find lately. 
The prefect bowl turning wood (sort of but its a nice wood to look at) is Catalpa as it doesn't split to begin with. Makes a really neat dough bowl! 

[low_48]

In his 90s, he may be having a lot of trouble loading the blanks in his lathe. I suggest you actually talk to him, instead of taking the gallery owners story. Adding an electric hoist over his lathe may be the best help you can give him! I'm turned a fair number of large bowls myself. These are 18" bowls.