Showing posts with label Turning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turning. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wood Turning Bowls - So Common We Forget They Are Sophisticated

Bowls have been part of the human existence since we began to hold things and want to keep them. Wood turning bowls has been part of life ever since someone realized that a piece of wood could be hollowed to hold water, food or other treasures. Some of the first indications we have of wood turners are pictures of Egyptian turners on the side of pyramids where one turned wood while another made the wood move with a bow. They were making bowls.

Wood turning bowls became a common need in the villages of the world to the point where "Turner" is almost as common a name as "Smith." The village wood turner would produce a great deal of the needed kitchen supplies known as "treen" and many of these would be bowls.

Bowls are so common that we forget how elegant they can be. To turn a bowl is not a hard thing, to turn an elegant bowl is difficult. It must have the proper ratio of diameter to height but the mathematical formulas that might be thought to help disappear into insignificance. Turned wooden bowls are generally, like most bowls, fairly small as compared to a piece of significant architecture or a statue by Henry Moore. While I have worked on bowls as much as four feet in diameter and have seen larger, the champion size at the time of this writing is about 7 feet. Most so called large bowls will be 14 to 18 inches around and for most families a 10 to 12 inch salad bowl is big enough.

All of this means that bowls are looked at from a lot of different angles. That salad bowl you see as you approach the table changes in perspective when you sit down. The question in design is how to balance everything so that a bowl seen from above is also elegant seen side on and from a vast degree of angles in between. Will it look as good for the six foot two person at the side as it does for the five foot four one at the head of the table?

Wood turning bowls becomes then, a life long search for the "right" bowl. Of course this is true for the potter as well as the turner and for the ceramicist as well. A quick look through the history of pottery reveals the search for shape in our common bowl as an ongoing part of the story of mankind. Wood turners of today are in good company.

Coffee Mug Warmer Silly Bandz Automatic Can Crusher

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Wood Turning Bowls - So Common We Forget They Are Sophisticated

Bowls have been part of the human existence since we began to hold things and want to keep them. Wood turning bowls has been part of life ever since someone realized that a piece of wood could be hollowed to hold water, food or other treasures. Some of the first indications we have of wood turners are pictures of Egyptian turners on the side of pyramids where one turned wood while another made the wood move with a bow. They were making bowls.

Wood turning bowls became a common need in the villages of the world to the point where "Turner" is almost as common a name as "Smith." The village wood turner would produce a great deal of the needed kitchen supplies known as "treen" and many of these would be bowls.

Bowls are so common that we forget how elegant they can be. To turn a bowl is not a hard thing, to turn an elegant bowl is difficult. It must have the proper ratio of diameter to height but the mathematical formulas that might be thought to help disappear into insignificance. Turned wooden bowls are generally, like most bowls, fairly small as compared to a piece of significant architecture or a statue by Henry Moore. While I have worked on bowls as much as four feet in diameter and have seen larger, the champion size at the time of this writing is about 7 feet. Most so called large bowls will be 14 to 18 inches around and for most families a 10 to 12 inch salad bowl is big enough.

All of this means that bowls are looked at from a lot of different angles. That salad bowl you see as you approach the table changes in perspective when you sit down. The question in design is how to balance everything so that a bowl seen from above is also elegant seen side on and from a vast degree of angles in between. Will it look as good for the six foot two person at the side as it does for the five foot four one at the head of the table?

Wood turning bowls becomes then, a life long search for the "right" bowl. Of course this is true for the potter as well as the turner and for the ceramicist as well. A quick look through the history of pottery reveals the search for shape in our common bowl as an ongoing part of the story of mankind. Wood turners of today are in good company.

Portable Generator Portable Generators Reviews Basketball Hoop Review

Wood Turning Bowls - So Common We Forget They Are Sophisticated

Bowls have been part of the human existence since we began to hold things and want to keep them. Wood turning bowls has been part of life ever since someone realized that a piece of wood could be hollowed to hold water, food or other treasures. Some of the first indications we have of wood turners are pictures of Egyptian turners on the side of pyramids where one turned wood while another made the wood move with a bow. They were making bowls.

Wood turning bowls became a common need in the villages of the world to the point where "Turner" is almost as common a name as "Smith." The village wood turner would produce a great deal of the needed kitchen supplies known as "treen" and many of these would be bowls.

Bowls are so common that we forget how elegant they can be. To turn a bowl is not a hard thing, to turn an elegant bowl is difficult. It must have the proper ratio of diameter to height but the mathematical formulas that might be thought to help disappear into insignificance. Turned wooden bowls are generally, like most bowls, fairly small as compared to a piece of significant architecture or a statue by Henry Moore. While I have worked on bowls as much as four feet in diameter and have seen larger, the champion size at the time of this writing is about 7 feet. Most so called large bowls will be 14 to 18 inches around and for most families a 10 to 12 inch salad bowl is big enough.

All of this means that bowls are looked at from a lot of different angles. That salad bowl you see as you approach the table changes in perspective when you sit down. The question in design is how to balance everything so that a bowl seen from above is also elegant seen side on and from a vast degree of angles in between. Will it look as good for the six foot two person at the side as it does for the five foot four one at the head of the table?

Wood turning bowls becomes then, a life long search for the "right" bowl. Of course this is true for the potter as well as the turner and for the ceramicist as well. A quick look through the history of pottery reveals the search for shape in our common bowl as an ongoing part of the story of mankind. Wood turners of today are in good company.

Clothing Steamer Kids Bedding Canopy

Wood Turning Bowls - A Lifetime of Learning

Wood turning bowls seem to be a simple thing, After all, people have done it since the beginning of time. The first lathes appear to have been someone sticking a log between two points of wood or rack, wrapping a rope around the log and pulling it back and forth while someone else cut the inside and out with a sharp rock. In fact the same technique has been observed in India and certain primitive areas although most use tools made of scavenged steel now. While our tools are somewhat more sophisticated now we still turn a bowl that needs to hold water or salad or what have you. Some things do not change.

Many people are drawn to wood turning through the idea of making a bowl. Some of us start new turners on bowl turning instead of spindles. Peter Childs, a famous English wood turner, considered the bowl to be the perfect learning tool for a wood turner. It taught the proper way to hold a tool, to hold one's body, and to approach and cut the wood. It still does.

Even for people who start turning by making spindles and doing lots of exercises by cutting beads and coves in scrap wood, a bowl is often the first thing they finish that is a practical turning and one to show others. Little do they know that the journey is just beginning.

Turning wood bowls is the sort of thing that beginners do easily and advanced turners have difficulty completing. There are simply too many design choices. At first it is simply a matter of putting a block of wood on the lathe and getting a bowl at the end. All the concentration goes into cutting form and seeing the shavings fly. There is a mystery with the wood itself that must be handled.

In order to turn a bowl you need a big enough piece of wood. Unfortunately, wood this size has usually cracked in the drying so a turner needs to start with wet or "green" wood. This wood will warp as it dries so a wood turner quickly learns patience. First the bowl is roughed from green wood and allowed to warp as it dries. Once dried it is remounted on the lathe and finish turned, sanded and a wood finish applied. So our beginner has a lot of very enjoyable learning to do.

Then comes the day that things change. A bowl blank is removed from the drying pile and mounted to the lathe. Fairly quickly it is returned to round and brought to final thickness. The surface is sanded and a finish is applied. It has become a bowl but without all the difficulty of before. Our turner is well along the learning curve.

Now the question becomes not "is it a bowl?" but "is it a good bowl?" That leads to considerations of what makes a good bowl. How thick should the sides be given a certain size and does that change with color and weight of wood? Is the side of a pleasing curve and will it still look pleasing when gazed at from above as well as below?

These and other questions are the kind that will keep the search interesting for the perfect form in an old style vessel. Wood turning bowls can be a lifetime search.

Cheap Cricut cartridges Bassinets and Cradles Enuresis Alarm

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Wood Turning Bowls - A Lifetime of Learning

Wood turning bowls seem to be a simple thing, After all, people have done it since the beginning of time. The first lathes appear to have been someone sticking a log between two points of wood or rack, wrapping a rope around the log and pulling it back and forth while someone else cut the inside and out with a sharp rock. In fact the same technique has been observed in India and certain primitive areas although most use tools made of scavenged steel now. While our tools are somewhat more sophisticated now we still turn a bowl that needs to hold water or salad or what have you. Some things do not change.

Many people are drawn to wood turning through the idea of making a bowl. Some of us start new turners on bowl turning instead of spindles. Peter Childs, a famous English wood turner, considered the bowl to be the perfect learning tool for a wood turner. It taught the proper way to hold a tool, to hold one's body, and to approach and cut the wood. It still does.

Even for people who start turning by making spindles and doing lots of exercises by cutting beads and coves in scrap wood, a bowl is often the first thing they finish that is a practical turning and one to show others. Little do they know that the journey is just beginning.

Turning wood bowls is the sort of thing that beginners do easily and advanced turners have difficulty completing. There are simply too many design choices. At first it is simply a matter of putting a block of wood on the lathe and getting a bowl at the end. All the concentration goes into cutting form and seeing the shavings fly. There is a mystery with the wood itself that must be handled.

In order to turn a bowl you need a big enough piece of wood. Unfortunately, wood this size has usually cracked in the drying so a turner needs to start with wet or "green" wood. This wood will warp as it dries so a wood turner quickly learns patience. First the bowl is roughed from green wood and allowed to warp as it dries. Once dried it is remounted on the lathe and finish turned, sanded and a wood finish applied. So our beginner has a lot of very enjoyable learning to do.

Then comes the day that things change. A bowl blank is removed from the drying pile and mounted to the lathe. Fairly quickly it is returned to round and brought to final thickness. The surface is sanded and a finish is applied. It has become a bowl but without all the difficulty of before. Our turner is well along the learning curve.

Now the question becomes not "is it a bowl?" but "is it a good bowl?" That leads to considerations of what makes a good bowl. How thick should the sides be given a certain size and does that change with color and weight of wood? Is the side of a pleasing curve and will it still look pleasing when gazed at from above as well as below?

These and other questions are the kind that will keep the search interesting for the perfect form in an old style vessel. Wood turning bowls can be a lifetime search.

Coffee Mug Warmer Chocolate Gold Coins Kids Electric Scooter Reviews