Project: Winged Bowl in Ash

A while ago I was given several pieces of newly cut Ash, I have been leaving them to dry out a bit while I considered what to make.

This particular piece of wood had developed a large longitudinal crack, conveniently pretty much along the centre, so it only took a few hits with a splitter to cleave it in half, with one half having a branch spur about midway:

Figs 1 & 2: The blank piece of Ash after the ends had been cut to length on the band saw

I wanted to incorporate this branch spur into the piece I would make, so I decided on this being used for the base of a bowl and to incorporate a winged feature.

 

Fig 3: Rough sketch of what I initially planned

So, after marking out where I wanted the centre of the bowl to be, I drilled a hole to suit my screw chuck. Once I screwed the piece of wood on to the chuck, I brought up the tailstock for additional support. 

fig 1,2

                                                       

                                             fig 3

Fig 4: Mounted on the Lathe

With the lathe running at a slow speed (for safety and to reduce vibration due to the out of balance) I started to shape the underside of the bowl and the wings, and to start making a tenon to suit my 50mm jaws

Figs 5, 6, 7 & 8: Refining the underside

When turning the wings a great deal of care is needed. The gouge is “cutting” in mid air most of the time, so knowing where the tip of your gouge is is really important if you want to stay safe. It is also important to check the position of your tool rest and keep your hands on the “Safe side” (fortunately you get a feel for all of this as you progress, but returning to the piece after a coffee break it takes a moment for this “feel” of where the edges are to return).

A few cracks started to appear in one of the wings, but CA glue was applied to prevent this causing a problem.

Once the underside was finished, it was sanded down to 320 grit; this had to be done with the lathe turned off due to the inherent dangers. A coat of sanding sealer was applied, then the piece was removed from the screw chuck.

 

                                                       fig 4

                                                         

fig 5,6,7,8

Fig 9: Underside Finished

The piece was reversed, then remounted on the lathe using the tenon on the foot, ready for the upper side to be turned. Again, the tailstock was used to provide additional support for the initial cuts.

 

Fig 10: Mounted using the Tenon

The upper surface of the wings were worked on first, as these will become less stable as material is removed towards the centre, then the bowl area was refined

Figs 11, 12, 13 & 14: Refining the upper surface

Initially my plan was to have the bowl rim sweep up from the winged section, as seen in Figs 13 &  14; this meant in order to keep the inner bowl curve in proportion, it didn’t extend down that far down towards the foot, meaning that the piece was very heavy.

So the plan was revised, and the raised bowl rim was removed, allowing for the wider/ deeper bowl to be turned.

  

Figs 15, 16 & 17: Revised upper profile and bowl

With the upper surface refined and completed the piece was sanded to 320 grit, and sealed. Then it was removed from the lathe. A scrap piece of wood was mounted in the chuck, which along with the tailstock was used to secure the bowl to enable the tenon to be turned away from the foot.

You’ll notice the bark has been left on the piece, and to help strengthen this and to brighten it up it was coated in CA glue.

To complete the piece, it was polished with carnauba wax.

Given that the Ash is still quite “green” ie it still contains some moisture, it is hope as it continues to dry, the thinner wing sections over time may warp, and this we hope will result in an interesting shape. 

Below is the finished Winged Bowl, it measures 345mm long and the internal bowl is 110mm diameter:

 

 

Figs 18, 19, 20 & 21 : Finished Winged Bowl