Replies

1. 
   jako17 | Jan 17, 2007 07:14pm | #1

   You can turn almost anything but what are you going to use it for ? Display bowls can be anything. Use very sharp tools and try it, you just create elegant firewood <g> LVL and Parralam offcuts turn well ,even MDF,ivory,bone and rice if you get really obsessive!! 

1. 
   user-165384 | Jan 18, 2007 07:34am | #2

   Thanks,

   I was planning on using the bowls for food (salad, ice cream, fruit...), but i am sure they would make very elegant firewood if they don't work out!!

   Bain

1. 
   jako17 | Jan 18, 2007 08:12am | #3

   Stick with hard maple for eating out of as it tends to destroy bacteria .I don't like the idea of fir as it is splintery and rather soft.However if you have fir turn something anyway .That is the best way of learning.You will find that wood that is useless for cabinetmaking and rejected as hard to split for firewood is fun to turn e.g.crotchwood and burls.Tree surgeons will often give you wood free if you give them a bowl or two. I have specific requests in to two crews and wood just turns up on my driveway now and again.

2. 
   Railyn | Apr 17, 2007 06:19pm | #4

   I work a lot with Fir.  I like to turn "green" and it is interesting how a bowl will warp when it starts to dry out.  It makes for good practice.  I turn the walls down to 1/8" to 3/16" inch thickness.  You can see light shining through the walls.  Tools need to be very sharp and you need to work to completion.  If you let a bowl set in the lathe even for an hour it will start to warp out of shape. 

    I also work with green alder.  I do a lot of turning with bark edges.

   Try it out.

    

   Ray