Burl wood

Mark.

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i have been working on a bowl out of Black Cherry Burl wood. Finding that this wood if much harder than any thing I have turned as of now. Been trying to get out of the rut of all my bowls having the same basic look. In doing so I have found the need of better chisels & differnt styles to allow me to reach the inside without having my chisels making contact on the upper lip of this bowl. Tell me what's the best type & style chisel to reach the inside when the upper lip is much smaller than the lower parts.

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Nature Man

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Super nice turning! I'm working on a piece of burl myself right now and have found my round carbide tool does wonders in awkward places. My first burl turning, and I didn't realize how hard the wood would be. Chuck
 

phinds

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Nice turning
 

Nubsnstubs

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Your bowl looks pretty good. The inside curve looks like a bowl gouge or round carbide tool would be what I would use. If you had reverse on your lathe, it would be a piece of cake with any straight tool. A locking set screw on the chuck is a MUST HAVE if you're gonna turn reverse.

Any of the swan neck tools would be better and a whole lot easier. If you can't afford to get one, they are easy to make. ........... Jerry (in Tucson)
 

duncsuss

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I don't believe that you need "better" tools -- your results to date show that the ones you have are completely adequate :good2:

What you need is a tool for this job, that is dealing with the lower side walls and the bottom of a form where the rim closes up.

The first tool I used for this task was a narrow round-nosed scraper, which does pretty well in the bottom corner and up the sides, but (in my hands) tends to leave a swirly pattern across the bottom.

Then I got a larger round-nosed scraper, which levels out the bottom nicely after the narrow scraper has done all the heavy lifting.

I've also used tools with flat carbide discs (which are scrapers) and the type with "cup shaped" carbide cutters (which are not scrapers, the up-turned edge is effectively a bevel on a gouge). For an excellent tutorial in the use of these carbide tools, see this video by John Lucas on the Hunter Tools.

 

rocky1

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If one positions their lathe perpendicular to the wall, rather than parallel, one can go to the back side of the lathe to turn the inside of the bowl, and you don't need reverse. Argument could be made for kill switch; but my plug is on that side. Have to walk around the lathe to reposition tool rest, or shift gears, but otherwise it works quite nicely.
 

Crocy in Aus.

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As all the above, but! The best and safest way is get a toolrest that reaches right into the bowl so you have the minimalist amount of tool overhang, stops the inevitable digin with standard toolrest. There is always a metalfab shop nearby if you cannot make your own.
Rgds,
Crocy.
 

William Tanner

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Nice job Mark. You have a one of a kind bowl there. Great wood and great job. There is always the option of rounding out that inside bottom corner. That would work well with your outside form. If you are having to sand, a curve is a lot easier to sand than a square corner. I would have started by drilling out the center and then attacked with a 3/8 bowl gouge followed by a hollowing tool and or scrapper.

A friend recently got me to modify a flat nosed scraper for smaller straight walled boxes. Makes those so fast and easy but only for straight walls.

You have a really nice piece and you should be proud. Will be watching for more.
 

Mark.

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10
Thanks for all the input & complement's. Some of what I read was on spot for what I had to do to reach the inside walls in transition to the bottom. I do have some old chisels that were my first ones I got. Cheap one from H F. I altered the shapes to conform to the angles of the inside walls & bottom. When I said my first chisels were cheep, in fact my last one were cheep also. I do have a very good wet wheel sharpener with a leather stropping wheel. I was guilty of free hand sharpening, & until a few days back I hadn't tried the wet wheel method. I did little to no sanding after using wet grinding & fixed jig. My chesils cut better now than when they were new. I am thinking about getting better tools soon. Again Thank You All
 

duncsuss

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If you want "better", try Benjamin's Best from Penn State Industries.

If you want "best", choose Thompson Lathe Tools. Not only does Doug Thompson make unbeaten quality tools, he is one of the best quality people you could ever meet.
 

phinds

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If you want "better", try Benjamin's Best from Penn State Industries.

If you want "best", choose Thompson Lathe Tools. Not only does Doug Thompson make unbeaten quality tools, he is one of the best quality people you could ever meet.
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