This question was broached in another thread and is one that I’ve been hasslin’ with for some time as well. I’m new to the entire craft of turning and have only taken one hands on class on the subject since getting started. In *that* class, the procedure was to square off the bottom of the blank (while on a screw chuck), turn a spigot or recess for the chuck jaws and rough out the over all outside shape of the piece.
That done, the piece was chucked up on the bottom, hollowed out and the finish turning done on the outside.
I guess from my perspective as a beginner this makes some sense since the outside form is what determines the design. Would seem logical that the outside would be at least roughed out before beginning hollowing out the inside.
Too bad we can’t incorporate streaming video….(grin)
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I turned a lot of bowls years ago, but in recent times I only turn occassionaly, usually at Christmas. My bowls are usually smallish, maybe 6 inches diameter or so. I prefer to turn over the bed and on my lathe that limits me to 8 inches dia. I start with the blank bandsawn round, glue on a small chunk of waste to fit my screw chuck. I will chisel this off the finished bowl and clean it up with a small sanding disc or perhap chisels, etc. I always turn the outside of the bowl first. To me, the bowl's form is a primary design consideration so I like to do it first. Then after sanding the outside, I start on the inside, cutting to finished thickness as I progress into the bottom. As the thin walled bowl is formed, the wood will distort and go out of round, so there is no going back except with sandpaper.
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