# a few "new" bowls



## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

I put new in quotes because most of these have been sitting in my basement for several years just waiting for me to put a few final coats of finishing agent on.

Reactions: Like 3 | EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 9 | Creative 1


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## Karl_TN (Aug 15, 2018)

Nicely done. These segmented bowls are a great way to show off many different woods. What glue and type of finish was used on these?


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Aug 15, 2018)

Very nice


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## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

Karl_TN said:


> Nicely done. These segmented bowls are a great way to show off many different woods. What glue and type of finish was used on these?


They all have a sealer coat of natural stain followed by some number of coats of dewaxed shellac topped by coats of high glass poly. The shiny three at the top have nothing else, the pinwheel has a topcoat of low-gloss poly, and the bottom two a top coat of flat enamel to take the shine off.


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## Tony (Aug 15, 2018)

Nice work Paul! Did you glue up the blanks? Tony


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## Karl_TN (Aug 15, 2018)

phinds said:


> They all have a sealer coat of natural stain followed by some number of coats of dewaxed shellac topped by coats of high glass poly. The shiny three at the top have nothing else, the pinwheel has a topcoat of low-gloss poly, and the bottom two a top coat of flat enamel to take the shine off.


Did it ever cross your mind that semi-gloss was the look you were after? 

Really like the patterns on these bowls, but can't figure out how you cut and glued some of them together. Got any tips or pics of the process? Also, is Tight Bond 3 the best glue to hold different types of woods like this together?


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 15, 2018)

@phinds all in favor of a tutorial, say Yep!

Yep Yep Yep 3 bags full from me

Cool looking bowls. I too cannot figure how you glued most up.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

Guys, the glue-up is really simple. You just start with two pieces of wood and sand one surface one each and glue them together then sand a surface on that and glue on another piece. At various points you stop gluing parallel to each other and cut/glue at angles. Sometimes it DOES come out looking a bit puzzling but if you look at them carefully you can always figure out the glue-up order.

I do have to say that I once picked up one of my completed bowls and looked at the middle and all I could think of was "now how the HELL did I DO that ??? " I had to really think about it before I saw how I had done it, so I it's not odd that you can find it confusing at first.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

Karl_TN said:


> Did it ever cross your mind that semi-gloss was the look you were after?


No, because it was NOT the look I was after. Low-gloss (not semi-gloss) was the look I was after SOME of the time, shiny other times. Low-gloss is not the same as flat and semi-gloss is definitely not the same. Finishes can be categorized as

gloss (shiny)
semi-gloss (less shiny)
low gloss (only a tiny bit shiny)
flat (no shine at all)

When I started making bowls I always did a glossy finish but I found that some people didn't like that so I started doing some with low gloss. Now I much prefer flat.


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## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

For example, this looks slightly confusing:





but when you break it down, it's just:





Of course, as each piece is added, it's bigger than it ends up and then cuts are made, sanding is done, rinse and repeat.

Then when it's done your just resaw it parallel to the face and bookmatch it.

Reactions: Like 4 | Thank You! 1


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## DKMD (Aug 15, 2018)

Very cool! I love the organized randomness.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## phinds (Aug 15, 2018)

DKMD said:


> ... organized randomness.


Exactly !


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## Nature Man (Aug 15, 2018)

phinds said:


> For example, this looks slightly confusing:
> 
> View attachment 151686
> 
> ...


For not being complex, it sure looks like it is! Terrific work on the bowls, and helpful suggestions on the finishing. Chuck


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## Karl_TN (Aug 16, 2018)

phinds said:


> No, because it was NOT the look I was after. Low-gloss (not semi-gloss) was the look I was after SOME of the time, shiny other times. Low-gloss is not the same as flat and semi-gloss is definitely not the same. Finishes can be categorized as
> ...
> When I started making bowls I always did a glossy finish but I found that some people didn't like that so I started doing some with low gloss. Now I much prefer flat.



All your bowls stand out regardless of the finish because of the whimsical patterns, but your glossy finish ones do seem a bit more vibrant. Thus, I'm curious why you much prefer flat now (outside of being much easier to photograph)? Just wondering since it's been my experience that people give more ooohs & ahhhs over shiny turnings compared flat turnings at both club meetings and fairs. Speaking generally here because there are times when a flat finish is best.


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## phinds (Aug 16, 2018)

Karl_TN said:


> All your bowls stand out regardless of the finish because of the whimsical patterns, but your glossy finish ones do seem a bit more vibrant. Thus, I'm curious why you much prefer flat now (outside of being much easier to photograph)? Just wondering since it's been my experience that people give more ooohs & ahhhs over shiny turnings compared flat turnings at both club meetings and fairs. Speaking generally here because there are times when a flat finish is best.


Oh, I agree that a lot of people prefer the shiny and I did too at first, but I just find it garish now and much prefer the flat. I still leave a lot of my older bowls shiny but I'm going back with some of them and putting a coat of of flat on them to take off the shine.

The one BIG disadvantage to flat is that if you have (as many of my bowls do) a wood that is beautifully chatoyant, the flat muddies the chatoyancy in a very unfortunate way. It's still chatoyant but not nearly as much. Still, overall I now prefer the flat.

Also, of course, the shiny finish picks up fingerprints and other smudges very readily whereas the flat tends to not do that and the flat is a bit more forgiving of minor flaws in the undercoat or on the surface itself.


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## David Hill (Aug 18, 2018)

Very nice 
Truthfully it’ll be a while before I try segmenting lile that— I love the look, the time/tedious factor is what stops me.


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## phinds (Aug 18, 2018)

David Hill said:


> Very nice


Thanks.


> Truthfully it’ll be a while before I try segmenting lile that— I love the look, the time/tedious factor is what stops me.


Yeah, it is NOT something to do for ANY reason other than just plain old loving to do it. Trying to do what I do to make money would be insane. Each bowl takes as much as 15 hours start to finish including building up the blank, building the base, putting them together, turning it (segmented dry wood is a b**** to turn and not get chipouts), putting on many coats of finish, putting on the felt bottom, taking LOTS of pics, and then putting the pics up on the web site with the HTML to put the pics in the right order and add comments. PLUS I end up putting something between 15% and 20% of the bowls into the bar-b-que pit due to stress separations. With my current bowls I've cut way back on that by letting the blank sit for 6 months, then doing a rough turning and letting THAT sit for 6 months, then doing the final turning.

Reactions: Like 2


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## phinds (Aug 18, 2018)

By the way guys, here's my etsy shop. I've just put up several bowls. I had some listed during the Xmas season a few years back and didn't sell a single one and I have little expectation of selling any now but the damn things are seriously cluttering up my house and I don't like burning the ones that aren't flawed.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/phinds

Reactions: Like 1


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## phinds (Aug 18, 2018)

This is what I try to avoid


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Aug 18, 2018)




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## phinds (Aug 18, 2018)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


>


Yeah, I hate to do it, but the older ones have to be culled from time to time. I think they are pretty much all stable by now I hope I hope I hope.


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## ripjack13 (Aug 18, 2018)

Wow Paul, that looks great. Nicley done sir...

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (Aug 18, 2018)

ripjack13 said:


> Wow Paul, that looks great. Nicley done sir...


Are you talking about the bowls or the fire?


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