# Ever afraid to finish it off?



## kweinert (Mar 1, 2012)

I'm turning my first bowl. It's just under 4" as that's the size I had from my box of random wood.

The outside looked so nice that I'm a bit nervous about turning it around do to the inside as I don't want to screw it up :)

[attachment=2376]

As an aside, once I took the picture it became reasonably obvious that I really didn't spend enough time on the finish step. I really hadn't seen that it looked that bad but once I saw the picture and started turning to catch the light differently it's pretty obvious.


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## heinz57 (Mar 1, 2012)

Sand sand and sand some more. 

I generally do several different sandings, with the lathe spinning, without the lathe spinning, and even taking it off the lathe and just hand sanding some areas. 

Some guys will take some sanding attachments and a power drill to get some spots. By in large, I find that the first day I make a bowl I'll always have to sand more. Making nice smooth cuts helps, especially with the end grain. Just make sure those tools are sharp and the tool rest isn't too far away from the wood.


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## Mike Mills (Mar 1, 2012)

One thing you may try is to bring a light parallel with the item and give a light coat of mineral spirits. It will show up scratches or pits you can never see with an overhead light.
It’s looking good.  How did you mount it to start with? How are you going to hold it to turn the interior?


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## Mike1950 (Mar 1, 2012)

Looks good-it always can be better otherwise it would be boring. It is alright to strive for perfection but keep in mind that you will never attain it. At least that is what keeps me trying to do better!!!!!!!!


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## kweinert (Mar 1, 2012)

Mike Mills said:


> One thing you may try is to bring a light parallel with the item and give a light coat of mineral spirits. It will show up scratches or pits you can never see with an overhead light.
> It’s looking good.  How did you mount it to start with? How are you going to hold it to turn the interior?



Drilled a hole in the center of the side that was going to be hollowed out and used a screw chuck. When I had that outside done I wrapped blue tape around the base of the bowl and put it into the chuck and hollowed it out.

I'll post up finished pictures over on the Turner's Completed Projects topic.

I appreciate your advice. Right now I'm my workshop is about 9 ft square (enclosed the patio at my apartment) and light is definitely an issue. I have sufficient for seeing what I'm doing but (clearly) not sufficient for really looking at it. Pens were easier to see and finish :)


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## kweinert (Mar 1, 2012)

I was going to post up pictures of the completed bowl tonight, but my handheld ones just aren't the quality I'd like and it's getting too late to set up the photo box tonight. I'm being sent out of town on business, but I'll try to get those pictures either tomorrow or Saturday.

Thanks to all for your advice and encouragement - it is very much appreciated.


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## kweinert (Mar 1, 2012)

rbaccus said:


> Really nice bowl and pretty wood. what species--what finish--let us all learn with you. looking nice so far!



I don't know the species - this is 1/2 of a chunk I got from my 50lb box of mixed cutoffs.

The finish is what I've been using on pens: Mylands filler and friction polish followed up with wax.

I have a home brewed Waterlox replacement that I'd normally use, but I wanted to get it done. I know, I know - not a good motivation.

The good news is is that I managed to create something that actually resembles a bowl without putting any holes in it I didn't intend to. I'll also let you know that it won't blow over in a strong wind - it's a bit heavy in the base.

One other thing - it's nice to be turning a piece of wood and having showers of streamers coming off the wood instead of mostly sawdust. Still a lot to learn about sharpening but evidently that bit of practice is helping out.


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## heinz57 (Mar 2, 2012)

Oh man, as far as your first bowl goes, if you make something functional you're in the ballpark. The first bowl I ever made I didn't even bother with any finish because I wanted to see what the hell the tools I had could do. 

I can't commend the comment enough about practice practice practice. By the time you feel like you've got a handle on it, you learn something new. It's awesome. I've made my fair share of bowls so far, but I still don't have the technique honed in quite yet about turning exactly the wall thickness I want, nor the continuity of thickness. But hey, so far they've all come out well enough to be put on kitchen tables (etc) and that's alright in my book. 

Just keep on keepin' on, and I'm sure things will end up alright. Lookin' forward to seeing some of the hollowed pictures of it, because I can't tell what the type of wood is from the original picture.


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## txpaulie (Mar 2, 2012)

That's a great start!

Keep goin'!:yes:

The best advice I received when asking the masters about bowl turning was, "turn 100 bowls"!:wacko1:

I thought that was about the silliest thing I'd ever heard...

Until I realized the logic!

I actually numbered bowls for the first 30 or so, then kinda lost track...

I promise that there is a significant difference between bowl #5 and bowl #30!

p


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## DKMD (Mar 2, 2012)

Looks good so far! The wood looks like cocobolo to me, but I suppose it could be any one of a number of things. 

On dense, oily species(which this appears to be), I like to sand to 600 or even 800 grit then buff with tripoli. I skip the white diamond on anything dark. For my final grit, I'll often wet sand with mineral spirits or boiled linseed oil… Wet sanding seems to give me a better finish.


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