bad bowls

[jimmykx250]

Learning the hard way. Atleast the oak was free. Plenty of free stock to practice on. Still VERY aggrivating when you spend that much time and blow out the bottom at the very end!!!

Link to a couple pics at photobucket if you care to look. I couldent figure out how to reduce the file size to accomidate the website.

http://s666.photobuc...250/Bad%20Bowl/

[AceHoleInOne]

Sorry for your troubles. You'll do better next time. Thanks for posting....the good and the bad.

[TimV]

It doesn't look bad to me. You could turn the rim further down below the bark edge part. You'll have a shorter wall but that will be ok. And I think you can still turn out that bad spot on the bottom. Just keep removing material until you get past it. If you go too far and turn through the bottom, oh well, it's already "bad" anyway so what the heck?

[Roger T]

Jim,

Keep after it. If you dont wreck a few in the learning process, you will never learn what not to do. But, here are a couple of things you can do. Put a jacobs chuck in the tailstock and drill a depth hole. Figure out where you want the bottom of the bowl to be, and drill to just short of that depth. When you turn down to the bottom of the drilled hole, you will know that you only have a tiny bit more to go before you risk making the bottom to thin.

Another thing i noticed in your pictures, is, you made the rim or top of the bowl at the bark side of the log. While there is not a thing wrong with doing bowls like this, and is the way to do natural edge bowls, if you were to take and reverse the orientation of the bowl, so the foot or bottom of the bowl is towards the bark side you wont sacrifice any of the depth of the bowl trying to clean up a bark edge.

The only way to get better is to stand in front of the lathe and turn. Keep after it, you are likely to wreck a few before you get it all figured out.

Roger