First Attempt at A Square Edged Bowl

[William Young]

I started this last night and finished it off today. I sanded up to 400 with norton 3X and then up to 4000 with abralon and the finish was smooth like glass and I didn't want to put any oil or other finish on it to change the color so I just buffed it with a little wax and the abralon buffing pad on the ROS.
W.Y.

 

[Rick-U]

Nice Job

Nice Job, William. I must find time to follow suit. I presume you used dry wood. What kind and what kind of glue do you like?

 

[uniquewoodworld.com]

William, hats off to you. Thats ten thousand times better than any square edge form Ive ever tried to turn lol! Truly beautiful.

Would you mind talking about the production process a stitch? ie--various steps in the process, and the approximate speeds, etc.

 

[William Young]

Rick;
That is locally grown silver birch and the dark stripe is walnut. Yes it is well seasoned dry wood. I used titebond 2 glue on it.


Uniquewoodworld;
I am not at the skill level yet to turn square wood with air between the cuts. That bowl was actually quite easy to do because I followed a 4 page tutorial from the Feb / March 2005 issue of Wood magazine which came in the mail a couple days ago. If you are interested enough to try one, by all means get a copy of that magazine and it will step you through the whole process on four full color pages. You will need a scrollsaw as well to cut out three basic templates. The plans are built around a lathe with a 14" swing . They could be resised on a copier to suit most any size but I wouldn't want to go much smaller.
The author is an internationally known Australian woodturning icon by the name of Vic Wood.
He describes how to turn that type of bowl a safer way.
Looking at his full color picture mine looks very similar even to color. Although my picture shows every defect and I know it should have been thinner on the edges and the shaping could have been somewhat better. It was a first try and I can analize it to improve on the next one or two , or three... or ... ... until I get it exactly the way I want it. I have the templates all cut out so they can be re-used over and over.
That bowl is the one I broke my tool rest on when I was working on unfamiliar angles on the back side of it and got a catch . I very seldom ever get a catch any more turning conventional shaped bowls which are much easier to do.
W.Y.

 

[Rick-U]

Does anyone turn squares without waste blocks?

William,

Thanks. I am familiar with the techniques and have all the stuff (including a subscription to Wood). Just haven't made the time yet.

I have never heard of anyone turning "square wood with air between the cuts" without the waste blocks (except rosettes). Have you? Seems like it would be an exercise in futility (or frustration at best) to avoid tearout (wood and fingers). 😱

 

[Steve Worcester]

William,

I have never heard of anyone turning "square wood with air between the cuts" without the waste blocks (except rosettes). Have you? Seems like it would be an exercise in futility (or frustration at best) to avoid tearout (wood and fingers). 😱

Vic is a great guy, whom I often refer to as the grandfather of square turning.
You may also want to look at these
http://www.turningwood.com/square.htm
It describes the "air between the cuts" method.

 

[William Young]

Rick'
The term "air between the wood" or 'spinning air' is for when some guys turn cowboy hats and baseball caps etc out of a block of wood. That is something that takes a very high degree of skill level. I have a freind over the border that has made many baseball caps and when I join AAW in the spring I will be visiting him more often and learning more about the technique hands on. I certainly wouldn't attemt it on my own yet . Until then, I wouldn't even think of trying it . But if you have the subscription and the tools , by all means go ahead and try that one if you can find the time. It's a fun project. 🙂
It appears that I am destined to make more because I am getting inquiries already from some that want to buy one like that. I have no idea what one like that should sell for. I wont sell my first one because there is considerable room for improvement on it but practice makes perfect (almost) 😀 . It is somewhat like when I make my fretwork clocks and even some of the very advanced patterns that seem like a challenge for the first one turns out to be a piece of cake for the next one and all the rest after that of the same pattern.

Steve;
Thanks for that clarification and the kink. I will save that for further reading.

 

[Dr_dewey]

Inspired first effort

Good for you, trying that difficult procedure. Square turning has been a short coming with me. That "blank air" you describe, scary.

 

[C Edward Moore]

Square turning with air.

Stuart Batty has popularized square turning without waste blocks. He apparently had to make a large number of bowls from different pieces of square stock for some British woodturning supply or tool company. I have seen him do this and I have seen the finished products. The stunning pieces are about 1/8 inch thick, maybe 3/16 of an inch.

If you ever get to see Stuart demo, do what it takes to get there. He is worth the time.

I have done a few "square" walnut bowls from essentially square pieces with bark along one edge. You figure out real fast where NOT to put your knuckles. You also learn to finish the corners first and move towards the center. Like turning an icicle for an ornament, once a portion is thin you don't go back. In this case the centrifugal force causes the thin corners to flex. This happens unevenly and you get uneven "clicks" as the tool meets the bowl near those corners. And you sand the corners with the lathe turned off. 😀 To keep the bark on you use thin CA glue generously.

 

[Jake Debski]

Stuart Batty is indeed worth watching. Our own Steve Worcester is no slouch either. I've seen Steve demo and came away with enough confidence to try the free air turning. 🙂

 

[C Edward Moore]

No slight intended

There was absolutely no intention on my part to slight Steve's contribution in the square bowl turning arena, which I believe has been substantial. I think I joined AAW not long after Steve's article appeared and I have not been to AAW's national symposium, so my sense of who did what when is not very good. I have also not had the pleasure of seeing Steve demo, yet.

I have seen Stuart demo three times and have been impressed by his skills and sense of professionalism. If you read ny note carefully, I said that Stuart popularized square-edged bowl turning and I did not try to say who did what first. Stuart said that he had to turn a large number of small bowls in a short period of time and that he ended up turning them square. I guess I ASSUMED that this was the birth of the concept, but I really don't know.

If my memory serves me correctly, when I first saw Stuart's demo he was turning the wings with a spindle gouge. But, the last time I saw him I think he did that with a 3/16" or 1/4" parting tool. Does anyone else have any insight on this?

Steve, please enlighten us. As a former academic, it would pain me to attribute an idea to someone inaccurately, and to short-change someone else. 😱 That's like the chalk going down the board at the wrong angle. 🙂

 

[Steve Worcester]

I respect both of them. I have seen Stuart demo many times, been taught by him and would consider him a friend. We share many of the same passions. (Beer, cars...). Stuart is a great demonstrator and someone who is a true master of his craft. (As is Vic, don't get me wrong).

Both he and Vic do a great job at what they do and we all do it differently enough that I am sure you could learn from all.

I say in all of my demonstrations that there is no wrong way to do woodturning. Some are just more safe than others.