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Hi, Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns. For this project, I want a segmented bowl
out of cherry and walnut. The feature that I want to try out this time is with the walnut
ring that is on the top here. Normally, you just add a ring on top. But, with the flair
of this bowl, I wanted to make sure the walnut will appear to go clear thru. Otherwise, it
would be a thin slice of wood on the inside and a very different location on the outside.
I just wanted to try out the look on this. Now, many of you may have noticed that I've
been "on location" for quite a while. In that time, I've acquired a friend, Roger Dokken,
who has loaned me his chop saw, has loaned me his table saw, given me citrus: lemons,
grapefruit, and oranges, all kinds of things. This bowl will be for Roger.
So, let's make a segmented bowl with a cut in walnut rim for Roger.
When turning solid wood, I don't do a lot of planning beyond a rough idea of the bowl.
Then the bowl emerges from the timber. In contrast, in any segmented project, the first
thing is a plan. I've drawn mine up in Powerpoint showing the profile, and segment size. This
is where the bowl emerges. From this, I fill in a cutting list. For an
eight segment ring, the cutting angle is 22.5 degrees.
I'm using a different chop saw to cut the segments. This one is not as accurate as Roger's.
I'll saw the eight segments for a ring then go glue them before coming back to saw the
next set of segments. For me, gluing the segments together is becoming
routine. Spread two pieces of masking tape-one for each half ring, place the segments on
the tape, spread the glue, and clamp them together. My favorite spacer is a pair of
small bolts. The clamps are from an automotive parts supplier.
With all the rings glued up and sanded, it's time to start gluing the layers together.
I'll start with the walnut ring. I've used hot melt glue to fasten it to a faceplate.
I need to flatten its face and cut a mortise that I will fit to the next ring of cherry.
Unfortunately, the wood faceplate came apart despite dowels thru the threaded portion and
into the pine. Fortunately, I'm able to use the dowels to align the pieces together as
I glue it together again. Then back to work focusing on getting the mortise sides perfectly
parallel. Then over to the cherry ring. I need to face
it off then fit it to the mortise on the walnut ring. I measured the mortise and transferred
that measure to the tenon then I cut it down to near that size. The worst thing at this
point would be to get the tenon too small. Then I'm cutting a near 45 degree chamfer
on the end. Fitting the mortise to this chamfer tells me if I'm at all close. If it doesn't
go on, I can then cut the tenon back for nearly all what shows on the chamfer. Once it goes
on, I'm cutting it little by little. I'm not putting the mortise to the tenon's chamfer
with the lathe running because I don't want a burn mark.
Finally, I can glue the two pieces together. For now, I'm leaving both on their respective
faceplates. A cone center on the live center fits nicely to the faceplate for clamping
pressure. I just need to ensure the rings are aligned correctly. These two layers are
the most critical for the look I want on this bowl. Since this area at the top near the
rim flattens out, any ordinary joint would elongate the side of the walnut ring. I want
just the outer portion to be walnut at the top of the bowl. I may be nit picking but
that's the look I'm aiming for. Then I glued up all the other rings one at
a time, building down from the top and up from the bottom. Now it's one solid block
of wood and ready for exterior shaping. I want a convex curve to the bowl's exterior
so I have a lot of wood to remove. My gouge does a great job. At first while the rings
still have their points, I have to be careful to not catch and break off a chunk of wood.
Once it's smooth, I can go as fast as the lathe's power will let me.
With a decent shape on the exterior, I'll remove the hot melt glue holding the walnut
to its faceplate. By the way, I used CA glue between the bottom ring and it's faceplate
since it is going to take a lot more pressure in the final turning. Now it's time to reverse
the turning onto that small base faceplate and test it. I'll start hollowing the interior
with a gouge. Again easy does it as each ring is not quite circular. Once they are, I can
be a little more aggressive. I'll switch to a round carbide cutter to refine
the interior. On the sides, I'm tipping the cutter on its side to reduce the amount of
surface contact. Otherwise, I get heavy vibration and an uneven cut from chatter.
Then I'll do just a little more scraping on the exterior before hand sanding from 80 grit
up to 400 grit. I'll finish this bowl with walnut oil. Between
beeswax and mineral oil mix and walnut oil, these are my currently preferred finishes.
This may change however. With the bowl nearly finished, I'll part it
off from the faceplate. I recruited my wife to help catch it.
To finish the very bottom, I'm reversing the bowl into a jamb chuck. The bowl's top lip
is wrapped with masking tape. It's not holding very tight in the jamb chuck so I'll keep
the tail stock in place as long as I can. Finally, sand, sign and finish the bowl.
Now Roger's bowl is complete. I think the walnut ring for the lip was successful. Someone
suggested I use a tapered mortise say 2 to 4 degrees for this joint, but I haven't figured
out how to perfectly match 4 degrees on both the mortise and tenon. I know I can match
90 degrees as I did this bowl. I do hope Roger enjoys this bowl as much as I have enjoyed
turning it. Please click the like button on this video
and subscribe to both my website and YouTube channel. Always wear your face shield. Until
next time, this is Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns dot com.