Techniques For Turning Part 1

In the first of a two-part series focusing on woodturning techniques, Bob Chapman begins by looking at those techniques used for turning bowls, as well as beginning to discuss various finishing and colouring methods.

In a magazine article it is impossible to cover all the differing techniques used in woodturning. To limit the scope I am going to restrict this discussion to the techniques I use for turning bowls, and then move on to some finishing and colouring methods. I must emphasise, before I begin, that I don’t claim that these methods are necessarily the best way of doing things. All I can say is that this is the way I do them and, where possible, I have tried to explain my reasons for doing things the way I do.

BOWL TURNING TECHNIQUE

I think I have yet to meet a turner who doesn’t make bowls and, not surprisingly, there are techniques to be learned, which may make the task easier.

Prepare the blank & drill a hole 

Preparing a bowl blank involves little more than cutting it more or less round on the bandsaw and drilling an 8mm hole about 25mm deep in the centre of the face you want to become the top edge of the bowl. The screws supplied with chucks are generally too long – cut them down so that a little under 25mm protrudes in front of the chuck jaws. The side with the hole will eventually be hollowed out thus ‘losing’ all trace of the hole. Don’t drill the hole too deep or it will begin to dictate the depth of the bowl. If the bowl is to be ‘natural-edged’, then plane or otherwise flatten an area of the top surface large enough to let the chuck jaws sit flat when the blank is screwed on.

Turn, sand & finish the underside, leaving a spigot or a recess