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pie shaped blanks

O

Old Bolivian

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Jan 23, 2005
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South Carolina and Virginia
On several occasions, I have seen experienced turners draw a pie shape out of a large log section and indicate that this would make a nice bowl. Would someone tell me how to prepare such a shape for turning? Assuming that I had cut out a pie, how would I mount the piece on the lathe? Would I then be forced to make a cone style bowl?? YOu can see just how experienced a turner I am by my question, but the only real fool is the one who doesn't admit to being ignorant. Thanks, HB
 
Just guessing, because I specialize in ignorance. Aside from the cone, the only other mounting I can think of would have the top of the bowl aligned with one of the slice edges. I'm assuming the log was too big to use half of it for a bowl.

JG
 
I have done this a couple of time. What I did was to cut the narrow tip off enough, somewhat parallel to the face, for a center to safely fit on it. The bowls that I turnered from these pieces were much shallower than the whole pie shape was orginially.

But, I've done a few, so maybe there are other ways of dealing with this.

Al
 
I use the same method as any bowl, punch a 1" hole down where the center will be and mount it on a pin chuck. Helps to have a flat taken off the narrow part of the wedge to steady it at the drillpress, but wedges will do the job if you're planning a narrow bottom.

I suppose a Forstner and a steady hand might even do without the drillpress, since it guides on the edge, but I don't use the method.
 
These would be more like the "normal" orientation. Using the slice face as the top, as I suggested earlier, would produce an unsymmetrical grain pattern, and probably unsymmetrical warping while drying.

JG
 
I think I've got it

Ok, I will try to cut off a bit of the tip of the wedge and mount it on whatever. Then, I'll round it out and make a pyramidical or cone shaped urn. Is that right?
the truth is that I've become somewhat addicted to seeing chips fly all over the place. I'll never be good enough to show my stuff to anyone but friends and family, so.... I'll let you kind folks know what happened in a few weeks. I'm off to do what I do best... take care of grandkids. Thanks for all of your advice.
 
Assuming the crust of the pie equates to the bark on the log, Chisel away some bark near the center of this crust. This is for the spur drive. Or you can enlarge this chiseling to enough size to mount a face plate. Now cut off the tip of the pie to creat a small flat for the live center to press against. You're ready to go. With this aproach, the pith is going to be the bottom of the bowl.

Using the spur drive allows you to tilt and adjust the orientation of what will be the rim. You can't easily tilt the wood on a face plate. If you leave the bark edge alone, you are creating a natural edge bowl. If you carve it away, you'll have a shallower form. The size of the bowl is all dependant on the circumference of the log you start with and how wide a slice of pie you take. Remember too that the thickness of the pie piece affects your bowl's circumference.
 
S Clark has pretty well described it all. The wedges allow you to maximize sizes. Some of the English woodturners use this techniques quite a bit. Also helps to get rid of defects you may not want. GT



S. Clark said:
Assuming the crust of the pie equates to the bark on the log, Chisel away some bark near the center of this crust. This is for the spur drive. Or you can enlarge this chiseling to enough size to mount a face plate. Now cut off the tip of the pie to creat a small flat for the live center to press against. You're ready to go. With this aproach, the pith is going to be the bottom of the bowl.

Using the spur drive allows you to tilt and adjust the orientation of what will be the rim. You can't easily tilt the wood on a face plate. If you leave the bark edge alone, you are creating a natural edge bowl. If you carve it away, you'll have a shallower form. The size of the bowl is all dependant on the circumference of the log you start with and how wide a slice of pie you take. Remember too that the thickness of the pie piece affects your bowl's circumference.
Click to expand...
 
Joe Greiner said:
These would be more like the "normal" orientation. Using the slice face as the top, as I suggested earlier, would produce an unsymmetrical grain pattern, and probably unsymmetrical warping while drying.
Click to expand...

The direction of warp is well known, the extent depends on the precise orientation and interval of the rings. Cutting outside toward the heart produces a narrow visual pattern as opposed to cutting heart out, of course. Can also lead to problems with peck-out between annual rings, so be especially observant of the areas of flattest grain and keep your final pare thinner, perhaps leaving a few more tool marks, which will sand easier than pits.

There is an advantage to the heart-down method in some woods with broad sapwood and contrasting heart. Puts the different color in one centered place at the bottom versus two spots on the rim.
 
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