Wood Working project plan

Blue House bowl initial work

Hi Everyone,
Ive heard back from the Blue House folks and we will definitely be raffling off the bowl so Im going to begin posting pictures and comments about the bowl. I will post an announcement on this blog and on Facebook when the tickets are ready for purchase.

Here we go. Here are several opening photos of the block of wood:



This is a solid block of white ash. Its a lovely wood to turn. Now this particular block was processed whilst in its "green" state, meaning that it was not dried after it was cut. So to keep it from drying out and cracking, the block was coated with wax and shipped to me earlier this week. Here Ive marked out the center and Im going to attach a faceplate to what will eventually be the front of the bowl:


This is a sizable, heavy block of wood and so it is going to take some precautions to turn it safely. Im going to use big, long wood screws to hold it to the faceplate and Im also going to place it "between centers" which means Im going to use the live and dead centers of the lathe to mount it:



Now it can be turned without a lot vibration and that means it can be turned safely.

Here is the blank after several minutes of turning. Im making the underside of the bowl first.



...and here is the blank after about 15 minutes of turning. You can see that there are both sapwood and heartwood in this blank.



The next posting will describe how the bowl is attached to the lathe and hollowed out.

VW