# First bowl.....Bradford Pear



## GeorgeS (Jun 11, 2015)

So yesterday I noticed a pretty good size branch was blown off a Bradford Pear in my neighborhood on community property. I was a little worried about busy bodies so I didn't want to just go cutting away on it and cause issues for myself so I made a note with my name and number on it and attached it to the branch telling our landscape company that I would love to have the first 4' of the branch. Now I wasn't really sure they would waste their time with me but I got a call yesterday from the guy who was sent out to deal with it and he left me a message saying it was cut up and the last 4' were waiting for me and if I didn't get it by tomorrow morning they would just pick it up with the rest of the branch in the morning. I grabbed it on the way home last night and decided to try my hand at turning a bowl from wet wood (started a dry one but haven't finished it yet). It was a lot of fun! I did learn however the importance of using a forstners bit to flatten a spot for the drive spur to grab appropriately. I will not make that mistake again and my forearm is grateful for that! Here are the in progress shots. Sorry the second pic is a little blurry. I got the outside shaped and started on the inside before the boss poked her head out and said it was quitting time. It was after all our 20 year anniversary yesterday! I also need a good sharpening system for my tools. Everything is second hand and could use a good sharpening. Im working on that now. Me and the grinder don't get along well enough to do it free hand.

Reactions: Like 4 | Way Cool 1 | Creative 1


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## barry richardson (Jun 11, 2015)

Very nice George, just a warning, your starting down a slippery slope once you realize how easy it is to turn bowls from green wood, every tree you see becomes fair game.....

Reactions: Agree 6


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## GeorgeS (Jun 11, 2015)

@barry richardson I just spent a week in Ashville and we went to Biltmore Estate, while walking through the gardens and looking at the trees my wife teased me about drooling over them and dreaming of what I could make out of them!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jerry B (Jun 11, 2015)

it's an excellent start, especially being a natural edge as your 1st bowl
depending on how thin the walls are, expect the Bradford to warp quite a bit when drying
as you start collecting fallen trees, let them sit outside, covered with a tarp, to season and dry out a bit ;-)


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## duncsuss (Jun 11, 2015)

Welcome to the world of wet woodturning ... 

One thing to watch out for is warping while you're still working on the piece. I found I have to move fast, and can't "go back over" an area because it's likely to be out of round a few minutes later.

Also, taking any kind of break (even just a few minutes) requires wrapping the piece up in a plastic bag to keep it from checking while you're away. (I use a shopping bag with some of the wet shavings inside, and an elastic band to keep the neck of the bag closed.)

Reactions: Agree 1


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## GeorgeS (Jun 11, 2015)

@Jerry B Thank you sir! I think I'm going to leave it about a 1/4" and then bag it for a while and Im sure its gonna move a bit. Ive mostly done spindle work up to this point but Im relly liking the bowls! Only problem is I think I'm going to need to make a move up in lathes. My little 1236 is having a tough time spinning the big heavy wood. I have to take much slower and smaller cuts for sure! Im sure my wife is gonna love it when I tell her I want a bigger lathe! I think I better make a few more smaller bowls before I break the news to her.


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## GeorgeS (Jun 11, 2015)

@duncsuss Thanks for the tip! I did notice that last night. I pulled it ouf the the chuck and placed it in a plastic bag with chips before heading off to bed.


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## Jerry B (Jun 11, 2015)

It's definitely addicting, especially since it's free wood (minus the labor to get it and prep it)
Duncan gives great advice above 
to add to it a bit, when turning interior of wet bowls, start at the rim, work down about an inch or so, get it to finish thickness,
then keep going farther inside another 1 - 1/2", turning it to final thickness, and so on, until you get to bottom
leave bottom a little thicker than normal, so you have room to come back and sand/turn to a flatness again, and try best to not have any pith, as pith is 1st place where cracking will start.

Form/shape preferences run in cycles, as with species, and everything else
today's market, I'm seeing consumers liking the warp/twisted shapes more than the proportionally rounded type bowls,
which is great for turners using wet woods 
the thinner you turn the finished walls, the more the wood will warp and twist, still generally leaving the walls at least 1/4 - 3/8" thick
(only other turners appreciate the exceptionally thin walls) ....... 
above all else ........ have fun


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## duncsuss (Jun 11, 2015)

GeorgeS said:


> @duncsuss Thanks for the tip! I did notice that last night. I pulled it ouf the the chuck and placed it in a plastic bag with chips before heading off to bed.



Sure thing.

It's also worth making the tenon (or spigot, whatever you call the bit that you clamp the chuck jaws onto) a bit oversized, because it is not going to be round when you come to put it back in the chuck. Worse, the flat face against which the front edge of the jaws should press isn't going to be flat any more.

I find that I have to "re-true" the face and "re-round" the tenon to make it safe to turn again.

Doing that is made somewhat easier if you make sure there's a dimple in the center of the tenon (ram it with the live center in your tailstock, e.g.) and -- if you have not yet turned the inside of the bowl to full depth -- a dimple in the center on the inside too.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## duncsuss (Jun 11, 2015)

btw ... for quite a long time, the lathe on which I turned everything (pens, peppermills, bowls) was the HarborFreight 12x33 lathe. Yes, it would bog down when I tried to take too heavy a cut, and when my gouge wasn't sharp, and if the chunk of wood was too heavy. It didn't stop me from trying (and sometimes succeeding) to make bowls up to 10" diameter.

Eventually I succumbed to the lure of a Nova 1624 (when it was on sale at Woodcraft for $500 off the list price -- seems to happen once a year in the fall, not long to wait and it gives you time to prepare your case )


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## GeorgeS (Jun 11, 2015)

Thanks guys for all the tips! Always good to hear from guys that have good advice earned from hard work! I've been practicing on spindle work for some time trying to learn proper use of my tools. Hardest one for me had been the skew! I just seem to always be too steep and get a catch. So putting the tenon on the bowls is fun!


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## ghost1066 (Jun 18, 2015)

At one time I swore I would never turn bowls and of course now they are stacked up all over the place and I am selling bowls blanks to other turners, go figure. Everyone gave you great tips but I wanted to add another. I didn't see your gouge if you used one and just wanted to say be sure you get a bowl gouge and not use your spindle gouges. This is for safety. I only own one bowl gouge since I use carbides for a lot of roughing and hogging out the bowls but I now know why people told me to be sure and get one. 

I turn Bradford all the time. Green is fun, dry it is hard as a rock but takes a great finish. Have fun looks like you made a good start.


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## GeorgeS (Jun 18, 2015)

@ghost1066 Thanks for the tip! I definitely have a bowl gouge. I don't like it when things go bang! I had a bit of tear out on the end grain right near the tenon but I think that has something to do with the fact that I didn't have anything to sharpen my tools. I purchased a Sorby ProEdge system last week and plan to get back at it after I've had a chance to get things sharp again.


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## ghost1066 (Jun 18, 2015)

Sharp tools area a must no matter what you turn. I just put cutters on my carbides and I sharpen my lathe tools all the time. One bowls it is a good idea to touch them up on the final few cuts so they are sharp as you can get them and then ride the bevel while you turn.


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## GeorgeS (Jun 18, 2015)

Agreed! That's why I haven't gone back to it yet. I was waiting for the sharpener to show up before starting again. No matter what I did I couldn't keep from getting tear out. We'll see if its operator error after they get sharpened.


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