I have been commissioned by my father-in- law to make a wood turned bowl wedding gift. The idea for this piece is to have two different woods coming together to make a whole. I am using walnut and padauk .
The structure for this bowl will be rings of 12 segments stacked to form the bowl. Each ring will be half walnut and half padauk. With the form of the bowl made, I can cut the center section, where the two different woods come together, out on the band saw. This took a lot of measuring to get the 2 cuts in the right place on the bowl. The first cut I made with my bowl cutting sled. The second cut I made was with a fence on the band saw table.
With the bowl cut and its section revealed, I can make the center piece that will replace the part I cut out. To make the segments for the new center section I glued a piece of walnut and a piece of padauk together. The seam between the two pieces is a curve I cut on the CNC. The curve looks like a puzzle piece. The overall shape of this new center piece will be the section of the bowl, as this is where there is material to form the shape of the bowl.
With the segmented center section made, I can sand both sides as well as the two halves of the bowl to get them ready for the final glue up. I cut the length of the center section so all three pieces would sit flat on the table with the rim facing down. I then glued all three parts together holding them with hose clamps.
Most of this project was getting to this point where I could wood turn all of this wood into a bowl. I started by making a tenon at the base of the bowl for the scroll chuck to hold onto. I then turned the outside of the bowl, following the form of the center section. I then turned the inside. I sanded the inside and outside to 600 grit sandpaper. I turned the bowl around once again and finished the base of the bowl. I used butcher block finish on the bowl.
