Elm Slab Bowl

This bowl was turned from a large bunch of elm I picked up from along the road about a year ago. I had cut a few of the logs in half, sealed them and then just put them on a shelf. I was going to rough turn a round bowl, but the wood seemed to be stable enough to just turn to finish. I decided to leave the shape the same as the bowl blank because there was some interesting grain from a small branch protruding out of it. I did add a little CA glue to hold that bit together, but the rest is holding on. I will be drilling a hole and adding a brass rod in order to enable this piece to stand on end as the last photo below shows. 13" wide and 3" tall and 4 coats of danish oil. Comments/critques are always encouraged and welcomed.

Thicker is Better

I've been spending quite a bit of time looking at European turner's websites lately. Many tend to turn thick sided bowls and vases. Because of all the pictures I've looked at I've grown to like the look and decided to try it myself. Many turners believe the thinner the walls the better and more skilled the turner is. In my opinion, a thicker wall makes the piece look more natural. Below are a few of the thicker bowls I made recently.

After posting this, I saw a discussion about the thickness of wood turnings on SawMill Creek, an online woodworking forum, and I started a similar on Family Woodworking, the best online woodworking forum!

Maple 13"wide and 6" tall

Maple 11" wide and 5" tall

Three elm bowls 7-8" wide and 3-4" tall

Hollowing in KS

This past weekend I was in KS visiting my parents. My dad is also an avid woodturner and he has made a number of hollowing tools. His latest is a capture rig based loosely off Lyle Jamieson's design.

I tried it out while I was there on some red elm. Works very well. Hollowing can be very hard on the wrists, elbows and shoulders. Not with a rig like this. The hollowing goes much quicker as well. Below are a few pics of the form before finishing.