My biggest to date

[Bruce Miller]

And the biggest I can fit on this 24” swing lathe.
It’s a real nice piece of psalter maple.
I’ll be taking all safety precautions that I am aware off and that have been discussed on this forum, especially staying out of the line of fire.

 

[Roger Chandler]

That's a 22" swing on the G0766. I have one in my shop, and a couple other lathes. I've turned some big blanks on my 0766.......keep tailstock support as long as possible, and especially till you get the blank rounded/balanced. Good luck with this......looks like some pretty wood.

 

[Karl Loeblein]

That should turn out to be a nice piece. A faceplate and tale stock is one of the safest ways to mount this. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

Next time you might want to try using a friend or club members shop to cut a circler blank on a bandsaw. This will allow our to mount an even bigger piece with a slightly higher initial speed which will make turning more enjoyable. Finding a 18” Bandsaw at an auction for $450 has been one of my favorite tools for processing turning blanks.

 

[john lucas]

I was going to suggest getting it closer to round with the chainsaw. I made plywood discs from 6" up to 20". I can screw one of those to the blank and get it pretty close to.round just whittling away.

 

[hockenbery]

I’m with @john lucas

I have hardboard disks
For chain sawing: I put the disc for the turning on the blank and use it to draw a circle with a wood marking crayon. And do the same with a disc 2” larger. The cut away all the larger circle and leave all the smaller circle.

if it fits on the bandsaw I pin it in place with a scratch awl and cut as close to the disc as I can.

 

[robo hippy]

I see a lot of end grain checking in that one flat facet of the blank. Hope they don't go all the way through. That would make this piece far more likely to blow up as you turn.

I also, from years of experience, would have spent more time truing up that blank. Without seeing it in person, it looks like you could make a nice calabash style bowl out of it. I usually will scribe a circle, numerous ways to do that, on the top and then chainsaw it up from that.

robo hippy

 

[Doug Freeman]

As others said some more chainsaw work for better balance and I then use a chainsaw wheel on a 4” grinder to work down high or heavy spots after I get the piece mounted on the lathe, with the lathe OFF. I lock the spindle and saw away. Check balance by freewheeling the piece by hand - let it stop at the heavy spot, like static balancing a tire. It isnt perfect due to bearing drag, but it sure helps to reduce lathe bounce at the beginning. Nice looking piece of wood.

 

[John Torchick]

That is a big piece of wood. Probably weighs more than my lathe. Looking forward to the finished turning. BTW, psalter maple is a new one for me.

 

[Bruce Miller]

Yes I could have and SHOULD have spent more time with the chain saw on this piece, Next one I will use a piece of plywood for an outline.

Robo, there was some checking in this piece, fortunately it didn't blow up on me. once it's dried out ill fill with some colored epoxy maybe.

Roger, I absolutely used the tail stock all the way up until about halfway down the inside of the bowl, then it was just in the way. BTW I bought this lathe after reading yours and a few others recommendations, I couldn't be happier with it.

After these pics I went and cut the rim down a little More and smoothed things up a bit all around with the shear scraper.

you can see the checking in this photo.

The bowl turned out to be about 16" diameter and 7" deep.
It'll be a fruit bowl for the table if my overseer accepts my offerings of peace.

Thanks all for the helpful comments.