Wood Turning Projects

Recently my dad purchased a lathe for smaller wood projects to be made on. Turning wooden bowls and other pieces is a process that i have always been fascinated by. Basically these projects are accomplished by taking a chunk of wood and fastening it to a center point that rotates at a very high rpm, then touch gouges to the surface of the spinning wood in order to carve a design into the piece.


This bowl was made with blocks of already dried wood glued together. This block of wood was then roughly cut into a circle with a bandsaw, then fastened to the center point of a bowl turning chuck. First the layout of the outside was created with a stepdown sort of layout. Then the chuck is moved to the other side of the bowl, and the inside is hollowed out. This hollowing process is much longer and more tedious than the outside shaping due to the idea that you are mainly cutting against the grain when you are inside the bowl. When working on the outside you are cutting with the grain. To finish the process off, while the piece is spinning, sand paper is applied to smooth the surface, then sealer and a varnish are added.

This is a goblet also turned from glued pieces of wood, this is a very delicate piece and can easily break at any second if one of the gouges would happen to catch the grain of the wood. This piece has been sanded but has not been finished or sealed yet.