I'll just leave this here... Make a Bowl Without a Lathe
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Who needs a lathe?
- Thread starter Kevin Jenness
- Start date
That guy's a bit of an amateur. He missed a subtle adjustment of the bowl blank over the blade. The blank should be positioned over the blade such that it only cuts on the far side of the blank from the operator's position so the cut is never against the grain.
Oval dishes can also be done on the table saw.
Back in the day I built 2 versions of "lathes" for a customer to cut concave tapered shafts for pool cues on table saws in one pass from square blanks.
Wood shapers with adjustable jigs can do "turnings" too.
Metalworking milling machines can easily do both inside and outside of bowls with curved contours.
When you get right down to it a traditional lathe is a poor excuse for production work. "Production" is an offensive concept for many. But if you want to make a living it may be a necessity. Bob Stocksdale said getting started he made enough production pieces to fill a couple football stadiums.
For the ultimate bowl "turner" a CNC router is the way to go these days. Any shape or contour is possible, do an oval bowl as easily as a round one. A traditional wood turning shop with quality equipment can be expensive to set up. For a fraction of that cost a decent CNC can be purchased these days.
Oval dishes can also be done on the table saw.
Back in the day I built 2 versions of "lathes" for a customer to cut concave tapered shafts for pool cues on table saws in one pass from square blanks.
Wood shapers with adjustable jigs can do "turnings" too.
Metalworking milling machines can easily do both inside and outside of bowls with curved contours.
When you get right down to it a traditional lathe is a poor excuse for production work. "Production" is an offensive concept for many. But if you want to make a living it may be a necessity. Bob Stocksdale said getting started he made enough production pieces to fill a couple football stadiums.
For the ultimate bowl "turner" a CNC router is the way to go these days. Any shape or contour is possible, do an oval bowl as easily as a round one. A traditional wood turning shop with quality equipment can be expensive to set up. For a fraction of that cost a decent CNC can be purchased these days.
I stopped as soon as I saw the blank was being shaped by a tablesaw blade, the one machine above all others most effective at destroying body parts. My take- idiot. He should ask himself if he deserves his fingers.
We've just recently had discussions about safety masks, and about wood blanks falling apart on the lathe. Can you imagine a 10" saw blade finding a crack or bark inclusion and the blank comes apart or is thrown by the blade? What part of dead isn't understood by some people?
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
"I don't own a lathe..." Idiot. Probably performs DIY dentistry with a Leatherman in his bathroom, too.
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It looks like a bowl made on a table saw. 
I wonder what the time was from start to finish.
I wonder what the time was from start to finish.
Beautiful form. The foot is exquisite.
Nice dog food bowl. Won't tip over easily.
I don't know why he rounded the outside. Square bowls are cool.
I have seen several variations of making bowls without lathes, and for me, it is just a no go situation. "A lathe would have made the job so much easier!" "Well that was the point of making the video to show that you don't need a lathe." I just don't get it. Efficiency is intelligent laziness!
robo hippy
robo hippy
For anyone who wants to make bowls without a lathe, it would be tough to find a better source of info than right here.
davidffisher.com
David Fisher, Carving Explorations
With traditional edge tools, I carve green logs and branches into bowls, spoons, and containers. My explorations also include carved lettering. The journey continues to be a joy. I hope you enjoy exploring the site and find the information to be helpful.
davidffisher.com
I made my first bowl more than a dozen years ago without a lathe. I couldn't figure out what to get my wife for Christmas and then I saw a block of walnut at Woodcraft. I wasn't interested in turning then, and the bowl is a bit crude, but my wife still tells me it's her favorite gift from me.
Oh, and that business with the table saw is absolutely idiotic. It's terribly irresponsible to put that on YouTube.
The concept of bowl on table is sound. Maybe not so safe the way the demonstrator did it. I've done it with a weight on the blank and handles protruding out away from the saw blade to rotate the blank and keep hands in a safe place.
As shown in the video it probably wouldn't pass an OSHA safety inspection. But neither would about 95% of the videos we see posted or linked to on this forum, turning without a guard to protect the operator from pieces flying off the blank is bad. Segmented turners cutting on the table saw are especially bad from OSHA's safety rules, allowing cutoff pieces to accumulate on the saw table and/or pieces stored on a table saw top even when the saw is off.
I doubt Youtube even looks at the videos posted, much less make judgements about their safety.
As shown in the video it probably wouldn't pass an OSHA safety inspection. But neither would about 95% of the videos we see posted or linked to on this forum, turning without a guard to protect the operator from pieces flying off the blank is bad. Segmented turners cutting on the table saw are especially bad from OSHA's safety rules, allowing cutoff pieces to accumulate on the saw table and/or pieces stored on a table saw top even when the saw is off.
I doubt Youtube even looks at the videos posted, much less make judgements about their safety.
North Carolina blacksmith/toolmaker Jason Lonon using his axe, adze, drawknife and gouge to make a bowl. I have several of his tools and they are amongst the finest from anywhere on Earth.
Part 1 of 2. Beware the toddlers!
View: https://youtu.be/qsnLsO5z9iI?
Part 1 of 2. Beware the toddlers!
Hollowing out a bowl by rotating it on top of a table saw blade is foolish and dangerous.