First segmented bowl

faber

New User
faber
Hey all,

Been a while since I've posted but I've been lurking more lately so figured it was worth a post.

Just finished my first segmented turning piece. It's made from white oak flooring that I got from my father-in-law as the leftovers from a construction job he was on. Not sure if the white oak was a good choice for a first segmented bowl - had a ton of trouble with tear out and splintering on the edges of the segments. Yea, it's the wood's fault. Not my technique for sure. Wood's fault. Anyway, nothing an hour of sanding at 60 grit can't fix.

This one was meant as a practice for a wedding gift, which hopefully I'll be getting started on shortly in cherry. Going to try to play with some CNC inlay in the wedding piece in the bottom of the bowl - we'll see how that turns out.

Main takeaways from this project:
- wedgie sled for making segments is amazing. Made some wedges on the laser cutter at work so they are perfect every time.
- first time turning something without any major catches. win.
- I am terrible at sharpening.

The last one is the biggest thing for me. I had spent a lot of time trying to make my own homemade jigs and tool rests and even reached out to some turners in the neighborhood for help but quickly realized on this project that I honestly don't care about the sharpening part. I know you can get a ridiculous edge with practice and experience on a slow grinding wheel through repetition and good setup, but I think I just don't value that time spent as worthwhile compared with the turning part. So I did what any insane person would do and got a tormek. Hopefully I can get it dialed in quickly and let it be the smart one in the room for sharpening, and let me focus on the woodworking part. Plus I can sharpen the kitchen knives, pocket knives, old plane blades, etc etc.

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Charlie

Charlie
Corporate Member
That came out great for being your first. Now you are hooked. But forget about oak. Go with cherry, hard maple, sapele, etc.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Agreed, Sapele, is awesome also Tulip, Koa, Marble wood, Olivewood and Brazilian rosewood

That came out great for being your first. Now you are hooked. But forget about oak. Go with cherry, hard maple, sapele, etc.
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
Charlies sketches are better than most of my work........in awe everytime he shows us something
 

Jeremy Scuteri

Moderator
Jeremy
I know you can get a ridiculous edge with practice and experience on a slow grinding wheel through repetition and good setup, but I think I just don't value that time spent as worthwhile compared with the turning part.

Nice work on the turning. You might consider carbide turning tools as a way to spend more time turning and less/no time sharpening.
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Nice bowl. Add the date on the bottom. Always nice to see what you used to do compared to your current work.

Roy G
 

faber

New User
faber
Nice work on the turning. You might consider carbide turning tools as a way to spend more time turning and less/no time sharpening.
I have one carbide tool and i was getting even worse tearout with that compared to the gouge, so I quickly abandoned. May go back to it for the next (cherry) bowl. But gotta make a step stool for the toddler next...
 

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