Actually it turned out shaped more like a pot than a bowl, but it represents my first attempt at end grain turning and hollowing. I picked up a piece of Orange Agate (aka Macacauba) and turned it down. There are a few things that I need to figure out before I do some more bowls.
1. Placement on the faceplate is fairly straight forward, although care should be taken to get it as close to centered as possible.
2. Once rough shape on the faceplate is done and a tenon is turned on the foot, I have to figure out how to get the piece centred in the chuck. It’s slightly noticeable that the rim is not an even thickness all the way around, and that is because it was wobbling a bit. The inside of the rim also has a rough patch that I think was caused by the wobble.
3. When turned around to finish (without cole jaws) I had to turn a cone to serve as a jam chuck. When I brought my tailstock up the hold the pot against the jam chuck, I was unable to turn the foot up close.
4. I am also going to have to work on proportion a bit. The foot in this case is too fine in relation to the pot. Perhaps the tenon needed to be a bit bigger (longer) which would have given me a more substantial base.
5. MOST important. I have to figure out what I am doing wrong in sharpening my gouges. The end grain turning did not go as quickly or as smoothly as I see on YouTube and I suspect that is because my gouge was not sharp enough.
I finished the pot with EEE Cream and Shellawax and am really pleased with how smooth and soft the finish is. I think, when I try this again, I will try it with a bit cheaper piece of wood. This piece was $16.00 and I would have liked it to have turned out a bit better given the price.
Finally, before I do much more end grain turning I have to get 2 more tools. The first is a bowl gouge. I have a small fingernail gouge that has a kind of bowl gouge grind, but it didn’t quite fit the bill. The other tool is a round edge scraper. My scraper is round ended and I was unable to angle it closely enough to the pot wall to get the finish cut really smooth. I will have to put these on my Christmas wish list.
To Everything, Turn...Turn...Turn 