A different perspective

The two most neglected areas of scrolled bowls tend to be the top and bottom edges of the rings.

It takes a lot of patience to get the top rim evenly thinned and shaped.  And the lower edge of the bottom ring, which can't be sanded after the base is glued on, is often a nightmare.  Take off too much wood and you can't glue the base on.  I've found that sanding that ring upside down makes it easier to see the actual shape and where work needs to be done.

Just for fun, I shot pictures of two recent bowls from the top.  The effect is quite interesting and you can clearly see the shaping of the bottom ring.  I'm always very relieved when that part is done, since it's easy to lose control of the rings and have it snag on the sander and go flying.  Even if no one else notices, it's nice to be satisfied with the finished job.

Drill press is fixed--lesson learned

New belts arrived on time, we cleaned up all the debris and filed down the rough spot on one of the pulleys that we think caused all the trouble.

The first thing I noticed was the tremendous decrease in vibration when I sanded.  I had assumed it was me, or the sanders, but it must have been the failing belt.

Lesson learned: when tools start sounding or acting "funny", that's a signal to check out belts, tighten nuts, and attend to anything that could be a source of the problem before it gets worse.

Tool maintenance (sigh!)

Here I was, sanding away at the last of a set of three related bowls that I've been eager to post, when suddenly the drill press chuck stopped dead but the motor kept on whirring.  Yup--broken belt!  Not just broken, but pretty badly shredded.  So, tomorrow I'll try to hunt down a replacement and get the machine up and running and see if we can figure out what happened to destroy the belt so badly.

It's tough to remember to check tools periodically when they're running fine, but I'm going to have to develop better habits if I want to keep my tools, and me, happy!

On a brighter note, the first of my new bowl projects will be appearing in the December issue of Creative Woodworks & Crafts.  It's a rounded square bowl with a decorative rim--not difficult but quite nice.  Two other projects will be appearing at some point in other publications--I'll post notice of those as soon as I know when they will appear.  Glad my drill press held up until those were all safely submitted!