It’s Monday…let’s make something! ~ Week 38
Week 38! And it’s Christmas week! Time is flying by…and I can’t believe that the year is almost over! This morning I managed to get up into the barn to get this weeks project done!
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I got to the barn this morning and immediately walked over to the pile of Hawaiian Koa wood blanks! I grabbed the one from the bottom of the pile…and got to work! I started by finding the center of the blank, then drilled the hole for the woodworm screw with the drill press. Then it was time to mount the bowl to the lathe.
With square blanks, you always start by leveling the bottom and then rounding the entire thing out. Once I leveled the bottom, I turned the foot onto the bowl, then I started to round it out. I had somewhat of an idea of how I wanted this little dish to look, so I got to work on it! I’ve made a few bowls with a similar shape, and they are fun to make. Once I had the outside where I wanted it, I sanded and oiled it. Then I flipped it around in the chuck and got to work on the inside. With these shallower dishes, it’s always a delicate dance with the bottom of the bowl. You never want to cut too deeply, because you’ll end up with a funnel! So I stopped quite a few times during the process to check the thickness of the bottom. But I managed to get it where I liked it, and then it was time to sand and oil it.
All that was left was to get the foot off the bowl. So I pulled out the trusty cole jaws and set to work. Thankfully the rubber stops on it were tall enough to grab the curved edge of the dish…so I didn’t have to use the tailstock while turning off the foot. I made sure to make shallow cuts, because the last thing I wanted was for that bowl to come flying out of the jaws! Been there, done that…got way to many of those t-shirts! Then I sanded and oiled the bottom, popped it off the lathe and gave the entire thing some more oil!
I’m in love with this Hawaiian Koa wood! It truly is magnificent! What do you all think? I hope you all have an amazing holiday, whatever you celebrate, and as always…I’ll see you back up in the barn on Monday!
