Ambrosia Maple Chip & Dip Bowl

[Roger Chandler]

This is just a hair under 18" diameter and 4.75 tall at the rim of the inner dip bowl rim. I made this with a big party in mind.......center piece for the table that will hold lots of chips & dip. The flared rim on the inner bowl section and bottom section are for symmetry and the upper flare will help keep chips out of the dip as it sits.

I like the curl in this maple and the ambrosia stains......a little spalting in places as well. This was a bear to get sanded as some of the areas had some tear out, etc......took all the tools in my arsenal with shellac sanding sealer, power and hand sanding and then two full sequences of wet sanding...........finally got it pretty nice.

The base is made intentionally big for stability purposes. Comments welcome!

 

[Bill Boehme]

It looks very nice. I think that I would have made the inner bowl a little shorter with a more gently rounded shape. The reason is that it gets messy trying to reach into a deep dip bowl and also not easy to deal with an interior that has steep sides and flat bottom. I would have made a deeper recess in the chip platter for the dip bowl.

 

[Mark Mandell]

Great piece of wood, Roger. You've done well bringing out the grain and color. I personally don't favor 1-piece dual purpose forms like this. The "dip" bowl will have to be washed after use and the large "tray" section will make that a cumbersome job. I think it better to do the large piece with a recess to hold either the smaller form or a complementary bowl that can be glass or even white metal that will reflect the color around it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I assumed that the dip bowl was separate, but if not then I agree with Mark. I think that designing the inner bowl to hold a round plastic Tupperware type "liner" wold be a cleaner design.

 

[Roger Chandler]

I assumed that the dip bowl was separate, but if not then I agree with Mark. I think that designing the inner bowl to hold a round plastic Tupperware type "liner" wold be a cleaner design.

All one piece, Mr. B. This being my first chip & dip bowl...........well, you guys have given me some things to think about on the next one........thanks! Perhaps I will be able to find a suitable plastic liner for the dip bowl.

 

[hockenbery]

Roger,
A challenging piece carried off well.

A winged bowl where the wing is another bowl.

The curls are twisted grain and are prone to tear out when the grain is twisted toward the cut. Sort of like cutting into the a tiny spot of end grain where a bevel riding cut can lift the fibers instead of cutting them. Sometimes turning in reverse can work.
Sharp tools and extra light cuts usually work. Scraping sometimes works better than cutting. Especially problematic on near flat curves.

The base of the winged bowl is another toughie. Looks like a spindle gouge would work on your shape unless the handle hits the rim of the larger bowl.
I make a finish cut down the little bowl into the notch and make matching cuts on the bottom of the big bowl. The idea is to get a clean vee notch where they meet.
I cut all my chuck tenons with a spindle gouge so I get to practice this a lot.

You have the right idea! You just have to try everything you know until you get an acceptable result or banish the wood to the burn pile.

Al

 

[Bill Boehme]

Apologies to Holiday Inn Express

Making the V cut as Al described it would make it easier to get clean results in giving the illusion that the inner dish is a separate piece. I've never made any kind of food serving treenware, but I have washed dishes. My thought on making a dish or bowl would be to avoid narrow recesses because they just add extra work when it come to cleaning them. We can show off our turning skills on decorative items and keep serving containers simple.

 

[hockenbery]

Making the V cut as Al described it would make it easier to get clean results in giving the illusion that the inner dish is a separate piece. I've never made any kind of food serving treenware, but I have washed dishes. My thought on making a dish or bowl would be to avoid narrow recesses because they just add extra work when it come to cleaning them. We can show off our turning skills on decorative items and keep serving containers simple.

Form and function.....

Those recesses are great in a Display piece.
Those recesses are impossible to sand so a clean cut is essential.

I agree that for a functional piece a separate dip bowl makes a lot of sense.
That is one that needs washing vs wiping,
Can be interchanged with a glass, metal, or ceramic dip bowl that is machine washable.

Al

 

[Roger Chandler]

Roger,
A challenging piece carried off well.

A winged bowl where the wing is another bowl.

The curls are twisted grain and are prone to tear out when the grain is twisted toward the cut. Sort of like cutting into the a tiny spot of end grain where a bevel riding cut can lift the fibers instead of cutting them. Sometimes turning in reverse can work.

The base of the winged bowl is another toughie. Looks like a spindle gouge would work on your shape unless the handle hits the rim of the larger bowl.
I make a finish cut down the little bowl into the notch and make matching cuts on the bottom of the big bowl. The idea is to get a clean vee notch where they meet.

Al

Ah yes.......observations from a man who knows what of he speaks! First off .......thanks Al!

Your info on curl being twisted grain, is helpful as to why the sanding was such an issue! Secondly, the comment on the spindle gouge might work unless the handle hits the rim of the larger bowl...tried that.......EXACTLY the problem I had........

The other about making a finish cut down the little bowl.......tried that, and ran out of gouge [read that my detail gouges, the only ones that would work, were too short to get to the bottom of the cut to make that sharp vee cut to the base..........I was a bit concerned about trying that with a skew as getting a skate with it would have ruined hours of work!]

The tool I ended up using to get into this area was a boring bar with a tip in it........not exactly what I wanted, but was the best I could do under my circumstances. I guess it is time to order a new detail gouge that is longer .........perhaps I can find one that has some length to it to allow me to get a form like this done.

Thanks!

 

[hockenbery]

Roger,

I would never use a skew on cross grain unless it were flat on its side as scraper.
I could never control it an keep it from feeding into the end grain for a terrific catch.

I prefer a 3/8 spindle gouge with a finger nail grind for tight spaces.
It doesn't have the stiffness of the detail gouge but it gets into tighter spaces and gets a bit sharper.
A detail gouge has a lot of extra metal under the flute which lets it do a lot of bowl turning jobs better than the spindle gouge.

My spindle gouge has a slightly round nose with a 30 degree bevel.
It won't work as far over the tool rest as the detail gouge. But is cuts cleaner and gets in tighter places.

I keep a 1/2" detail gouge around with a 60 degree bevel.
A lot of folks sort of use detail and spindle gouges interchangeably but they are two distinct tools.

The hollowing tools can do a lot of stuff.
I have an old 12 pound Thompson boaring bar. It doesn't bounce much. It could probably do the job if I re ground the cutter to fit.

Al