# From burl cap to bowl



## DKMD (Oct 14, 2012)

I was lucky enough to get a couple of neat looking black ash burl caps from burlguy72, and I set out to turn one today. If you haven't tried ash burl, do yourself a favor and get some!

Here's the burl cap mounted on a screw chuck. You can see the dimensions of this cap still written on the cut face. I drilled a hole about 3/4" deep on the cut surface centered on the thickest part of the cap. I used a little plywood spacer to keep from having to drill too deep into the cap.
[attachment=12103][attachment=12104]

Next, I turn a gripping point for the chuck. This one is gonna be held in my little grizzly(Vicmarc knockoff) with a dovetail tenon.
[attachment=12105]

While the piece is still held on the screw chuck, I turn the profile for the bottom of the piece. In the photo, I'm using my little shear scraper tool to get my final tool finish. If you haven't tried shear scraping, I'd highly recommend it. This tool was once a cheap eBay skew chisel that has now been repurposed.
[attachment=12106]

Here's a shot of the bottom after completing the shaping. I trued up the tenon again making sure I had a good flat surface for the tops of the jaws to rest against. You could sand the bottom at this point, but I'm going to wait until I hollow the inside and turn it around again to remove the tenon.
[attachment=12107]

Now, I remove the piece from the screw and flip it around into the chuck. The same shear scraping tool was used to finish the 'wings', and I added a little bead detail at the edge of the bowl. I like to hollow in steps getting a finished wall thickness as I go down. That leaves a little 'beef' in the bottom of the form for stability.[attachment=12108]

Once I was happy with the inside of the bowl, I sanded through 400. The second photo shows the color change with a coat of antique oil.
[attachment=12110][attachment=12111]

Now it's time to reverse the piece again and get rid of the gripping point. I turned a little scrap piece of cherry to use as a friction drive.
[attachment=12112]

Place a folded paper towel or something else that's soft between the inside of the bowl and the friction chuck, and bring up the tail stock to hold the piece in place.
[attachment=12113]


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## DKMD (Oct 14, 2012)

Here's a shot of the friction drive from the headstock side.
[attachment=12114]

Turn away the tenon and shape the bottom as you'd like… Here, I chose to make a little bead to replicate the bead on top. Sand and finish what you can reach while it's still on the lathe. Then remove the piece from the lathe, knock off the little nubbin, and hand sand and finish that little area to match the rest of the piece.

Here are a few finished shots.
[attachment=12118][attachment=12117][attachment=12116][attachment=12115]

Reactions: EyeCandy! 1


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## bench1holio (Oct 14, 2012)

beutiful peice of BAB, and a great tutorial david .

well done


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## davduckman2010 (Oct 14, 2012)

awsome dave just awsome duck


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## Mike1950 (Oct 14, 2012)

David as always beautifullllllllllll -very nice wood...............


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## Kevin (Oct 14, 2012)

I need to learn how to do that tomorrow. Or maybe three weeks from some Tuesday. David that is soooo pretty. And from my miniscule turning experience may I say to all non turners you have no idea how hard it is to do what he just did. 

:thewave:


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice job ! Great tutorial, photography and wood ! Outstanding !
Scott


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## davduckman2010 (Oct 14, 2012)

Kevin said:


> I need to learn how to do that tomorrow. Or maybe three weeks from some Tuesday. David that is soooo pretty. And from my miniscule turning experience may I say to all non turners you have no idea how hard it is to do what he just did.
> 
> :thewave:



beutifull kevins thats why they invented fed ex and ups so i can it send to them


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 15, 2012)

Wow David you did that burl cap good! It's hard to see what a beautiful job you did on that when the wood draws all the attention. well done and a great picture tutorial!


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## DKMD (Oct 15, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> How long in real time did that take? Is it dry or will you bag it or use some other form of drying?



Thanks, Rob. I'd guess this piece took about 2 hours in total with a lot of that being sanding... Those little beads are PITA to sand, and much of the wing has to be done with the lathe off.

This burl wasn't dry, but it wasnt slinging water either, and it's pretty thin... Probably about 3/16" all the way through. My limited experience with ash burl has been that it's pretty stable. This piece may move a little, but I don't think it'll fold up like some wood will. I'll be sure and post a follow up if it turns into a potato chip.


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## DKMD (Oct 15, 2012)

Kevin said:


> I need to learn how to do that tomorrow. Or maybe three weeks from some Tuesday....



Thanks, Kevin. We'll have to hook up sometime... You could do this easily. I think some folks get intimidated with these 'propeller' pieces, but they're not all that tough to do. 

I'm not sure I'm good enough to give lessons for money, but I'd do them for wood!


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## LoneStar (Oct 15, 2012)

WOWWWWWWW !
And I only say "Wow" because I just wouldnt feel right cussing in front of such a pretty bowl :teethlaugh: 
Very nice !


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## TimR (Oct 15, 2012)

David,
That's a nicely written play by play on making this piece. It came out beautifully too!


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## West River WoodWorks (Oct 15, 2012)

:allhail:

Awesome turner, and modest too!

Not good enough to teach for money...:rotflmao3:

Thanks for a great tutorial Doc! I got a small piece similar to yours and this post really helps!

Tom


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## phinds (Oct 15, 2012)

Very cool. Thanks for posting the "build" sequence. Nice photography !


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## dean jordan (Oct 16, 2012)

Very nice tutorial.I know how much extra work that goes into documenting your work like that.Great looking bowl.


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## barry richardson (Oct 16, 2012)

Great job on some SWEET burl!


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## DomInick (Oct 16, 2012)

That's some beautiful burl there.... The bowl is very nice to.


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## elnino (Dec 22, 2012)

awesome work...how fast are you turning that burl in the different steps?

amazing work!!! i might have to get some black ash to try out.


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## elnino (Jan 8, 2013)

i tried this out today with a cherry burl...worked great thanks so much for the tutorial! i'm letting it sit in the bag for a few weeks before i finish it. but i'll post pictures.

thanks.


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## jimmyjames (Jan 9, 2013)

wow thats an awesome bowl sir!


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## DKMD (Jan 9, 2013)

elnino said:


> awesome work...how fast are you turning that burl in the different steps?
> 
> amazing work!!! i might have to get some black ash to try out.



Sorry, I didn't see the question above until just now. I don't recall specific speeds, but I generally turn something like this as fast as I comfortably can since it reduces the problem with the intermittant cut on the wings. I'd guess around 1250 to 1500 RPMs for something like this... Basically, I'll spin it as fast as it will go without vibrating.

I guess it doesn't matter since you've already turned one.

Looking forward to seeing some pics!


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