This rather large piece of timber was rough turned some time ago and is now dry enough to be completed. As you can probably guess from the photos, it presented a few challenges along the way!
Here she is, back on the lathe after a few years in my drying shed. There is a rather substantial faceplate screwed to the rear, but it offers little support for the overhang – I will need to turn this very slow!
As you can see from the first photo, I’ve trued up the top edge and turned the inside bowl to a larger size. This took some time, since everything seemed to start shaking at about 250 rpm!
This is the fun bit… just watch those fingers!
The next stage is beading the rim. Again it is much harder when the bowl is turning slow. It’s also a bit tricky with the sanding and much of the fine finishing needs to be done by hand when the bowl is stationary.
The bowl now turned and ready for carving. The two flat edges will be shaped and carved - this is where it was removed from the tree.
This stage takes the most amount of time to complete, but the effect is worth it. The contrast between the smooth inner bowl and carved rim is quite dramatic.
I aim to have the bowl finished quite soon and it should be appearing on the website within the next two weeks. I just can’t wait to see how the colour will look after oiling…