Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Something new for me
Ron Bauer
I have wanted to try carving to add interest to an otherwise ho-hum piece. This is my first try on a real piece (after a little practice). The maple bowl is 12 3/4" x 2 3/4". Finish is mineral oil/wax. It is a bit of a PIA doing the inside of a bowl but it would have been barely visible on the exterior.
I need to work on grounding out the background. Ron.
Re: Something new for me
Ralph Watts
Ron, Nice work. It is always hard to get a surface blend on this type of carving. One thing that might help is to turn a ring that covers the pattern. Then carve away waste around the leaves and finally remove the remaining part of the ring (several types of sanders will work to level out). Even though you are removing more material, the surface of your platter should be completely level and because you are power sanding, much less work overall for a great result.
Re: Something new for me
Ron Bauer
Ralph, Thanks for the tip on turning a band. I struggled with how to do that. I even wondered about an applique of some sort but couldn't figure out how to get it to mate perfectly with the bowl. I'll have to keep working on it. R.
Re: Something new for me
john Lucas
Really good job of carving. In the photo you can't see the out of level areas. You have to feather them out pretty far. Ralph's tip is excellent. I use my router on a table on the lathe to level the areas close to the final depth. I set the router up and then hand rotate the piece leaving the potential leaves proud. Then carve and sand up to the leaves. Once it's all level then carve the rest of the leaves. The router just makes things faster but it does take time on your first one to figure everything out.
The rewards of patience
Ellis Walentine
Wish I had as much as you do, Ron. Lovely work!
Ellis
Re: Something new for me
John C Lucas
I forgot to say you leave a ring where the flowers go and route that away up to the flowers. I dont know if that was clear.
Thanks to all for...
Ron Bauer
your advice and kind comments. I also want to give a special thanks to Bill McWhirter for his advice and guidance while I was stumbling up the learning curve.
Re: Something new for me
John McGaw
Beautiful. If you can do that on your first outing, I'd like to see what you produce on your tenth.
Ditto what John just said-can't wait to see more
Nice!
John K Jordan
Yes, I agree! This looks great and the next should also, if your patience holds out! When I carved one with feet and handles it took so long it had to be a either labor of love or just plain stubbornness.
I've long thought about devising something like John Lucas mentioned to remove most of the wood with a router to make something like a teapot with a handle and spout, but never made one. Some day...
Your leaves reminded me of something I started once but also never carried through - to carve a leaf of the tree of that species of wood in the middle of the bottom of a series of bowls. I still think that would be cool. You're welcome to use that idea, especially since hardly any ideas are new and someone has probably already done this!
JKJ
