Swag bowl tutorial

I'm nearly finished with a fairly complex swag bowl--just needs one more coat of finish. Rather than post just the completed project, I decided to post pictures of its earlier stages as well, so you can see how rough the bowl looked before sanding and finishing.

The pattern for the blank was based loosely on one used for a really high-end lathe-turned bowl. The glue-up was sanded with a drum sander, then finished on the SandFlee to get it really smooth and even. The main wood was ipé, the strips padauk, and the end pieces yellowheart.

The blank was then cut into four rings, at a 20˚ angle. The base was re-cut to a 35˚ angle for ease in shaping. The rings are stacked to illustrate how they look assembled, but are actually glued up one at a time.

To stack the rings so that the swags will line up properly, you must anticipate how they will meet once sanded.

Once the rings are glued together, the inside is sanded smooth, and the base is glued on.

Then, the outside is shaped and sanded, and the upper rim is given its final shaping.

I then applied several coats of Waterlox to finish the bowl. I usually use a combination of spray shellac and lacquer, which works quickly and easily, but decided to give this a try. Although the wood does look nice, I have conflicting sets of instructions on the best way to apply it, and will need more experience before I make a final decision about it. I still have one final coat to give it before letting it cure and giving it a nice rub out.

The new swag bowl

As promised, here are pictures of the new swag bowl. The matches are not completely perfect, but they are a lot better than I've been able to do in the past. I used the technique demonstrated in my swag video, and find that it consistently works well.

The one addition to the technique that I'd suggest is that if it's hard to see the ends of the swags clearly for gluing up the rings, try sanding one of the rings just a bit to get a better look at what you have. If the rings have been cut properly, there will be enough extra wood to allow you to do that without jeopardizing the glue-up. And just to play it safe, consider gluing up just one ring at a time.

Swag tutorial Part III

Here's the final video in this series. I'll post some additional pictures of the bowl when it's completed, along with some work in progress pictures. Please note two things: first, when using a plywood glue-up for a center ring, the ring is cut with the table level. Second, instructions for using a center ring are in Chapter 6, not Chapter 5.

If the video is not available, you can access it through You Tube

Working with Swags Part 2

Here's the second video, covering the alignment phase. Hope this

clarifies matters, but please email or post any questions you may still have.

If this video is not available, use this You Tube link.

Working with Swags--plain wood and plywood

In response to requests for information about aligning swags and working with plywood, I've made a three-part video tutorial that covers both. Here's Part One. Hope you find it helpful.

If you cannot access this video, use this link to You Tube.

Sanding Tips #2

To get a continuous effect with swags and straight lines, you need to anticipate where the rings will meet once the bowl is sanded smooth. This picture shows two rings about to be glued, and illustrates how you can follow the line of the swag from one ring to the next. If you do this at each point that must be matched, the insides will take care of themselves.