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Cathy, I hope you learned to use a bowl gouge to shape the bowl and perhaps a scraper or two to refine the shape somewhat and remove ripples from the gouge. It is possible to turn bowls entirely with scrapers but it is slow and tedious. Can't wait to see what you turned and hear what you turned it with....:?: 
A bowl gouge and round nose scraper for the inside.
A Shallow spindle gouge, and possibly a skew for the outside.
I would be interested to know if they introduced you to the skew on your first lesson.
cad
A Shallow spindle gouge, and possibly a skew for the outside.
I would be interested to know if they introduced you to the skew on your first lesson.
cad
I only used a bowl gouge. The folks who finished also used a scraper - I didn't get that far. I worked on the bowl this morning and got some of the inside better. The bowl went slightly oval during the class - so close is going to count. How do I smooth out the inside bottom to the point of being ready to finish?
I would like to say Cathy, turning is an art form you "feel" you way into. Most techniques feel comfy when you are doing them right. And you know by the result you are getting as well.
I am no expert. Some may differ with me on my personal preferences. I have made several of my own scraper to fit most of my needs, hence my preference to use them.
Inside a bowl, I rough turn as you did. Then follow up with light passes using a scraper that has the profile I seek. I normally go either .25" or .5" radius on my inside corners using the scraper to achieve it. I blend the wall to the inside corner with the same tool. Then switch over to a larger radius scraper to blend out the bumps from the corner to the center of the bottom surface.
Finally, if I am not happy with the bottom, I use a straight edges scrapper with radiused corners to flatten the bottom starting from as close as I can get to the inside corner and moving towards the center.
As far as the skew, I am far from being proficient with it. I am only fair with it now. Its hard to find pictures or detailed instruction without paying for it. I have learned what I know so far from Richard Raffin's book series. But the skew lessons are not clear on some of his pictures to me.
I did find and pick up one good visual, for free, on cutting beads with the skew. Its scary, but, it works very well. I made about 10 successful passes before I got too confident and gouged a nice helix in my work. Luckily I had enough diameter left to repair it.
If you can, try to get this lesson where you are studying now. The skew will be your most valued tool if you can get proper instruction on using it. Wish I could get this myself.
cad
I am no expert. Some may differ with me on my personal preferences. I have made several of my own scraper to fit most of my needs, hence my preference to use them.
Inside a bowl, I rough turn as you did. Then follow up with light passes using a scraper that has the profile I seek. I normally go either .25" or .5" radius on my inside corners using the scraper to achieve it. I blend the wall to the inside corner with the same tool. Then switch over to a larger radius scraper to blend out the bumps from the corner to the center of the bottom surface.
Finally, if I am not happy with the bottom, I use a straight edges scrapper with radiused corners to flatten the bottom starting from as close as I can get to the inside corner and moving towards the center.
As far as the skew, I am far from being proficient with it. I am only fair with it now. Its hard to find pictures or detailed instruction without paying for it. I have learned what I know so far from Richard Raffin's book series. But the skew lessons are not clear on some of his pictures to me.
I did find and pick up one good visual, for free, on cutting beads with the skew. Its scary, but, it works very well. I made about 10 successful passes before I got too confident and gouged a nice helix in my work. Luckily I had enough diameter left to repair it.
If you can, try to get this lesson where you are studying now. The skew will be your most valued tool if you can get proper instruction on using it. Wish I could get this myself.
cad
I forgot to mention. To everyone reading this thread.
I found a very good source of tool steels a while back and have made many a tool from the raw stock I get from this source.
It is priced affordably (amazing now a days) and if you know how to harden and anneal your metal, you can make most tools a woodturner needs.
The site is called Toolanddie.com, and I even endorse their site on my site.
You will be suprised at how affordable this metal is. They even have M2 and HSS steels.
cad
I found a very good source of tool steels a while back and have made many a tool from the raw stock I get from this source.
It is priced affordably (amazing now a days) and if you know how to harden and anneal your metal, you can make most tools a woodturner needs.
The site is called Toolanddie.com, and I even endorse their site on my site.
You will be suprised at how affordable this metal is. They even have M2 and HSS steels.
cad
Thanks for this info. I can already relate to the feel of the cut. Some passes felt so neat, lots didn't but it was the first time I'd ever really cut across the grain instead of with it. The inside shape is going be a discovery, not much plan. Again, I am not worried about this because it's a totatlly new experience for me. Thank you for the info about scrapers, etc... Richard Raffin's book series has been recommended before so I'll have to invest in them. I suspect I'll be tapping you and others for a lot of assistance.
Well metal is one thing I know well. I have 23 yrs manufacturing experience with it.
Tell you what, lets take vote. If anyone wants to know how to make your own tools, say so with a reply on this thread.
If there is enough demand, I will work up a picture tutorial, save it to pdf and publish it here for everyone.
But right now I am backed up, and cant possibly explain it. It has to be told right, or you will ruin your metal.
cad
Tell you what, lets take vote. If anyone wants to know how to make your own tools, say so with a reply on this thread.
If there is enough demand, I will work up a picture tutorial, save it to pdf and publish it here for everyone.
But right now I am backed up, and cant possibly explain it. It has to be told right, or you will ruin your metal.
cad
cathy, a deep gouge (bowl gouge) and a scraper or two like mike says, you can do 90% of bowl work with two or three tools. i'd like to say one thing though, cad's advice is pretty good also, but i assume he's talking about using a skew as a scraper on the outside. the skew is not really a tool for face grain work used as a slicing tool. on hard woods (cocobolo, ebony, etc) a skew is an excellent shear scraper, but that is really its only use in bowl turning, except i forgot, i turn the dovetail foot or recess for my chucks with a skew. still, its a scraping cut pushed in parallel with the lathe bed. just another opinion.
phillip
phillip
The lathe appears to be relatively harmless (as compared to the saws, etc...) but is one that has a high potential for significant injury.. Since using it provides such an opportunity to hurt me, I wanted to get at least basic instructions and safety info. Fortunately I had a gift certificate from Christmas to put toward this class. If I hadn't had that, I would have waited until someone in the group could guide me or I could afford a class before I started attempting to turn bowls and other faceplate items.
Cathy,
One thing that has not been mentioned so far, SANDPAPER, and lots of it!
Since you will be sanding by hand with the bowl revolving underneath, be sure to use some foam rubber as a pad. If not the heat generated by friction will make it unbearable to keep sanding. The foam pad isolates your fingers from the heat.
It's not uncommon to start with a heavy grit so make sure you have it on hand. Then work your way down progressively finer. Some people I've read go as far down as 1500. I don't, generally stopping at about 400.
One thing that has not been mentioned so far, SANDPAPER, and lots of it!
Since you will be sanding by hand with the bowl revolving underneath, be sure to use some foam rubber as a pad. If not the heat generated by friction will make it unbearable to keep sanding. The foam pad isolates your fingers from the heat.
It's not uncommon to start with a heavy grit so make sure you have it on hand. Then work your way down progressively finer. Some people I've read go as far down as 1500. I don't, generally stopping at about 400.
Phillip said:
I too use it for my foot dovetail, and shear scraping. But if you have a large enough skew, you can hold it with the blade at a 45° angle to the lathe axis and cut a finish on your bowl that needs very little sanding. This takes practice, and a large skew is one tool I have needed to make but havent got around to it yet. But I have made cuts like this with my skew on smaller pieces.
You cant beat it for a final cut on the outside of the bowl.
cad
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