In preparation for the summer, when I intend to show my work at a number of public events (schedule will be published as soon as it is nailed down), I have started making stock. On Sunday night, I rough turned 5 bowls, all about 8″ diameter and between 2″ and 5″ deep from various pieces of raw wood, some soaking wet. In less than 2 hours.
I know there are professional bowl turners out there, who would put me to shame. They can probably do this in 1 hour. But, and that’s a big but, I am not a professional, and I don’t have a production turning lathe. So I reckon for somebody with less than 2 years experience, that’s pretty good going.
Right at the end I must have gotten tired, paid less attention to what I was doing, and I got one almighty catch while roughing out the inside of a bowl. Doesn’t happen very often nowadays, but every now and then it does happen. In any case, this is how it went: I get the catch, the lathe doesn’t stop. In fact, I don’t even remember it slowing down. The tool is OK, and so is my arm.
The bowl, however, came right off the lathe (at about 1500rpm). Since I was cutting on the inside, I was well out of the line of fire, and in reality it just sort of dropped off and onto the floor. I pick it up, the lathe is still spinning, and first I thought maybe it just wrenched its way out of the chuck.
Nope, sir. It ripped the tenon right off the bottom of the bowl. Just not strong enough.
Luckily enough there was enough meat, pardon, wood, left, to make another chucking point (this time expansion chucking), and I finished it all of with no further problem.