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 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 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
