Another carved bowl

Here's another innovative use of the stacked ring technique, designed by Ron. As the last few posts have shown, bowls made with stacked rings can be varied by the materials used, or by the techniques applied to the basic project.

Larry and DW make bowls from Corian

Two members of the scroll saw forum have started making bowls from Corian. The white round bowl was made by Larry, and the lobed muted-tone bowl was made by DW. The only substantial change from making wooden bowls was the substitution of CA glue for the wood glue usually used.

I'm pleased to share these innovations with you, and will continue to post pictures of work that reflects new applications of the basic approach. Thanks, Larry and DW, for sharing your work.

A really nice project from "Tucson Ron"

I just received the first response to my invitation to send photos of your projects, a picture of a very lovely and creative vase made by a scroller/woodcarver from Tucson. I thought that you'd enjoy seeing it, and perhaps be encouraged to share your own work. Here are Ron's comments about his work:

I have just completed a special project that I would like to share with your readers. The wood is African Walnut and the carved section is Bass Wood. I laminated 1-1/2 inches of Basswood to both sides of a 4" wide length of the African Walnut. I made 4 blanks that were each 3/4" thick. 2 were cut for the center section which left the inside areas for the neck and top. 1 was cut for the 3 ring bottom section. 1 was cut for the 4 ring top section. I used your Oval Bowl pattern and set the table at 28 degrees left side down. The ring widths were 3/8 inch each. The finish is semi-gloss Deft Clear Wood Finish.

One of my other hobbies is woodcarving. I have carved many spoons and also like relief carvings. I carve with a group call the "Western Whittlers" here in Tucson. I have shared several of my bowls with the carvers and two of them have been inspired to also do some bowls.

I have taught 4 individuals one on one and they have all produce a very nice first bowl. Two men that had never before operated a scroll saw and two women that also had never operated a scroll saw but were very accomplished sewers.

After having made about 25 bowls is seems that I have come to favor the rectangular patterns with only 2 rings. I call them dresser trays. They work very nice for holding keys, wallets, and cell phones on the dresser at night.

Wish I had room for one of these

Despite our best efforts at maximizing space, we simply can't find room for a drum sander in our garage, even one slightly smaller than this one. It's the one tool for which I still use the community woodshop, and hope that no one has just tried to sand off paint, or used resinous wood and ruined the sandpaper. I use the drum sander primarily to level glued up blanks made from various types of colorful wood--it's the best way I've found so far to get a smooth blank that is evenly thick.

However, I have discovered that even though the blank appears flat, it usually needs further work, and that's where I use the SandFlee. The flatter the blank, especially for bowls, the easier it is to glue up the rings without spaces. I also use the SandFlee as a jointer to get my strips ready to glue up. Next step is to get a flex shaft extension for the SandFlee so I can sand places that I can't reach using the drill press. And that will be my Mother's Day present. Not as pretty as flowers, but a lot more useful.

Tile for Charity Quilt for Japan

Members of my scroll saw forum were asked to volunteer to create a 4" x 4" x 1/2" wood tile that would be joined to others at the corners to form a quilt. This quilt is to be auctioned, and the proceeds will be donated to help the recovery efforts in Japan.

I decided to do something different from my usual work, and cut out a fretwork pattern in 1/4" thick circle of bloodwood. This was glued to two pieces of maple, one solid and one with a circular opening cut out for the bloodwood. I filled in the spaces with Inlace, then sanded and lacquered the piece. Although it still takes me several tries until all the spaces are completely filled, I think it was worth the effort.

Inlace is not inexpensive, but it goes a long way, and the effect is really dramatic. I'm looking forward to seeing what the quilt looks like once it's completed, with every square different.

Keeping in touch

Just a reminder that if you have any questions about making bowls, please feel free to email me, with or without pictures, and I'll do my best to help.

And, if you're especially proud of a project, send pictures and I'll be happy to post them here (with your name or anonymously) so others can admire your work.

And now that the weather's warming up, I should be able to make some new videos on hints and techniques that I think you'll find helpful.