Roughing Out Bowls

The top left picture shows the blank attached to the lathe using the screw center.

By cutting the spinning or turning blank using the gouge chisel show in the top right picture, the outside of the bowl is given a rough bowl shape.  Hence the term “wood turning”.  The ridge on the back of the shaped blank will be used to attach the blank to the lathe when it is reversed to turn the inside (middle left).

The middle right picture shows the center of the bowl removed using the gouge chisel.  Two bowls will be cut from this 13 inch blank using the tool shown bottom left.  A 16 inch blank would yield three to four bowls depending on the thickness of the blank.

The lower left picture shows the two bowls cut from the blank ( and the handsome woodturner).  The bowls are thick to allow sufficient material to true them up after they have warped during drying.