Here’s an easy, accurate way to rip short logs on the bandsaw to make bowl blanks. First, determine the best line through the length of the log, and then place the log on the saw table or other flat surface, so it is lying just as you want it to go through the saw. Cut two 1x10s about as long as the log, and secure one of these pieces to each side of the log with drywall screws. The bottom edges of these guide boards should rest on the saw’s flat surface, to stabilize the log. Now drive a nail into the pith on one end of the log. Stretch a chalkline from this nail down the length of the log, center it on the pith at the opposite end of the log and strike the line. Carefully following this chalkline, rip the log. Sawing through the pith, which is prone to crack as the wood dries, ensures that this unstable section won’t end up in the finished bowl. Remove the guide boards and rip the halves again with the first-cut surface held against a fence set so the saw will take 1/2 in. or so off what will be the bottom of the bowl. This gives you a flat surface to set on the saw table when you cut out the round bowl blank and provides enough space for attaching a lathe faceplate.

Floyd Rogers, Lewisville, N.C.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, February 1992 No. 92

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