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Bowls

Wood turned bowls are one of the most popular turnings today!!

Part of the popularity is that bowls can be functional and that makes them wonderful for your home or for gifts! How many people do you know get a lovely salad bowl as a wedding gift?

But even with that said, bowls can be much more than functional. They also can be artistic!! They don't just need to be single wood salad bowls, think of natural edge bowls, pierced bowls, multi-sided bowls and even segmented bowls.

There are many ways to make bowls that are unique and will be a testament to your skills and creativity!

		Turning a Suspended Bowl (with cover) by Bob Hamilton
In this pictorial tutorial, Bob shows us how to make a bowl that is suspended above the table top by it's four legs! In addition, he created a top (lid?) to fit the bowl. The final result is a stunning covered bowl. One of the things that makes this project interesting is that this type of design has a traditional woodworking concern to it. It is, "How do you deal with short grain in a structural component?". Bob does a great job addressing this issue which will help you to understand it not only for this project for future ones too! This project is a real turning adventure as part way though the exercise, Bob's tenon breaks on his bowl as does happen and Bob shows how he recovers! We like real life projects and the learning that can be gained from them. This is one that fits that bill!!!

	Bowl Turning - Fron Log to Bowl in Under an Hour by Brian Simmons
Brian Simmons is the assistant manager at the WoodSmith Store in Des Moines. He has a national reputation as a woodturning educator. In this video, he takes a short section of poplar log and turns out a beautiful bowl, all while offering some really great insight in how to turn green wood.

		Turning Green Wood Bowls by Steven D. Russell
Turning green wood bowls is one of the hottest areas of interest in woodturning today! This article on bowl turning will focus on the steps necessary to turn a basic wet wood rough-out bowl. Effective drying techniques and finish turning will also be discussed.

		Natural Edge Bowl Video - Revealing the Treasures in Trees by JT Dunphy
These YouTube videos by JT Dunphy show you the entire process of turning a natural edge bowl. Part 1 - JT cuts the log for his blank with his chainsaw and then mounts the blank on his lathe. Part 2 - JT continues to cut the outside of the wood blank into a bowl shape. Part 3 - JT cuts the center out of the natural edge bowl. Part 4 - JT finishes turning the outside of the bowl after it's dried. Part 5 - JT finishes the maple bowl

		Thin-walled vessel with feet by Pablo Nemzoff
This is a very unique looking bowl... it's really a piece of art instead of something you might make salad in. In this photo tutorial, Pablo shows us how he mounts this Tipuana blank and turns it. To get the very thin wall size, he turns the inside to final dimensions and then uses a light bulb mounted to his tail stock which allows him to use the light transmitted through the walls to achieve his final dimension. This is a very unusual technique and one that might help you!

Woodturning Bowls Projects by Roger Austin

Bowl Roughing by Roger Austin

In this photo tutorial, Roger explains and shows us how he converts a log into a bowl blank. Then he shows how to mount the blank onto the lathe. He continues in showing us how to rough out the outside of the bowl and making a tenon to mount into your scroll chuck. After it's mounted into the scroll chuck the inside can be removed leaving the walls quite thick so it can be dried and re-turned round at a later time. This is a good primer for people new to bowl turning!

		Well-Composed Compote by Wood Magazine
Serve nuts, candy, or other tasty treats in this attractive woodturning. We made ours from three separate pieces that glue-assemble into the glowingly handsome raised dish.

		Square-Edged Bowl by Wood Magazine
With square corners and a wavy rim, this bowl will have admirers thinking you�re a woodturning wizard, and for good reason. Only you�ll know that adding some waste material when gluing up the blank makes it as easy (and safe) to turn as a round plate.

		Individual Serving Sized Salad Bowl Plans by Wood Magazine
Whether you're turning several 6" salad bowls for everyday use, as demonstrated here, or a unique highly figured bowl that's strictly for display, you'll find this method guarantees success.

		Bowl Turning Techniques and Reverse Chucking by Bonnie Klein
Bonnie Klein is internationally known for her small scale turnings which exhibit unusual skill in technique and imaginative use of design and materials. Bonnie's videos offer quality instruction, projects and techniques of interest to all woodturners.

		A lesson with Chris Stott: Natural Edges and Hollow Forms by Chris Stott
Create end grain bowls from branches while retaining the bark as a rim. Chris also demonstrates the advantages of rough turning bowls and explains how to remount them when dry and warped. Full information on relevent tools and equipment.

		Two Ways to Make a Bowl by Stuart Batty and Mike Mahoney
Mike Mahoney and Stuart Batty team up on making two bowls with two different approaches. They discuss grinding techniques, gouge angles, tool selection, chucking concepts, push cuts, pull cuts, drying ideas and much more all in front of a live audience. Their rapport with each other and the audience makes this DVD fun to watch while giving the viewer an immense amount of information. Great for all levels of woodturning and especially instructors of the craft.

		A lesson with Chris Stott: Turning Bowls by Chris Stott
Chris Stott's approach to bowl turning shows the correct techniques in the use of bowl gouges and other tools. He then demonstrates the use of scrapers and shows sanding techniques and how to achieve the ultimate finish.

		Decorative Utility Bowls by Trent Bosch
Trent welcomes you into his Fort Collins studio and takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a decorative utility bowl. Beginning with raw wood and ending with a rough turned bowl, Trent teaches drying techniques for green wood, re-turns the dry bowl to its final shape and shows numerous decorative techniques and finishing options. Woodturners of all levels are certain to enjoy.

		Bowl Turning: Step by Step by Steven D. Russell
Bowl turning is one of the hottest areas of interest for woodturners. Learn tips and tricks from a professional turner in this 2-hour, 20-minute double DVD set. If you're a beginner or intermediate turner looking for comprehensive instruction on how to turn bowls, this 2 disk set is for you!

		Revealing Treasures in Trees by J. T. Dunphy
J.T. invites viewers to follow the process of turning a spaulted maple bowl from start to finish.

		Making an Erosion Bowl by Neil Scobie
In this video, Neil takes you through the process of turning and sculpting a bowl from his Erosion Bowl series. Diagrams and visual aids help to explain the process in detail from start to finish. From sketching design patterns on the bowl to using the various power carving systems (including Dremel and Arbortech), Neil explains what it takes to make a beautiful erosion bowl that pays tribute to the erosive forces of nature.

		Turned Bowls Made Easy by Bill Grumbine
At last it is here and ready for you, the woodturners of the world! People have been asking Bill Grumbine to make a DVD that goes through the steps he teaches in his bowl turning classes. What makes this DVD so different from others? Well first of all, it has Bill Grumbine in it. But more importantly, this bowl turning DVD is as comprehensive as possible. It is also longer than just about any other DVD out there, even some two disc sets. There are over two hours of bowl turning information!

		Beyond the Basic Bowl by Bill Grumbine
This is the second DVD from Bill Grumbine. It shows more advanced techniques for bowl turning. Each project is shown from beginning to end starting with the log. The projects shown in this DVD include: a natural edge bowl, a square bowl and a winged bowl. Bill also shows how to core a blank to get three bowls

		Bowl Turning by Del Stubbs
An introduction to turning beautiful bowls and plates Del Stubbs shows you how to turn beautiful bowls and plates. You can start with dry lumber or with green wood you cut yourself. The camera zooms in close to see the careful contact of edge on wood and then moves back so you can study various tool positions, grips and stances. You will learn about: cutting tool types and modification of standard tools, grinding and honing chisels, gripping various turning tools, mounting bowl blanks and roughing out the shape, modifying a standard lathe, controlling warp in the thin wall of a bowl, cutting into endgrain, and designing bowl forms.

	Single Board Bowl with Laminated Ring by Bob Hamilton
In this photo tutorial, Bob shows how to mount a single board on the lathe and cut off rings to be used to stack up a bowl blank. To make it interesting, Bob inserts a wood lamination giving this bowl a wonderful unique appearance! This project is good for people trying to conserve limited wood and make wonderful bowls. This one is a full salad bowl size!

	Stacked Ring Bowl (one board bowl) by Bear Limvere
In this tutorial, Bear shows how to design one board bowls with the cutting done on the lathe instead of on a bandsaw. He shows to setup for the cuts on the lathe so that you will get all your rings and not cut into the faceplate. Bear also shows some example layouts for 2 and 3 section bowls.

	Mixed Media Bowl (wood and leather) by Paul Todd
This photo tutorial is a wonderful example of how to make a unique bowl. Paul uses a leather lacing for the top rim of this bowl. It's very stunning and you can see how he did it here.

	How to decorate a bowl with two types of veneer by Stanley Hyams
Making your bowl stand out from the crowd is not always easy! But in this photo tutorial, Stanley shows us how he uses veneer to apply a top rim to this bowl. This technique is very fluid and since you can change the type of woods, and subsequently colors, you can make many different attractive bowls!

	An Easy way to Cut a Octagon Bowl Blank by Bob Hamilton
Bowls don't have to be round! I know that this is set many turners back but turning bowls from multi-sided shapes makes for a very attractive bowl. In this project, Bob shows us the easiest way to cut your bowl blank into an 8-sides blank, ready to put on the lathe for turning!

Woodturning Bowls Projects by Colin Spencer

Turning a Pentagon Bowl by Colin Spencer

Most of us think round when we think bowls. Well, for Colin round is not always the answer. So, in this detailed photo tutorial, he shows us how he uses a template to create a 5 sided bowl blank. Then he shows us how to turn it without losing the shape!

This unique shape is very attractive and well worth considering if you want to make something different.

Colin makes this style of bowl in 4, 5 and 7 sides. To make it easier for you to do, Colin has provided a set of templates. You can find them here: 4, 5 and 7 sided bowl templates

	Templates for making 4, 5 and 7 sided bowls by Colin Spencer
Here are a set of templates useful for making 4, 5 and 7 sides bowls. It's a lot easier to approach this project with these templates!

	A Guide to Bowl Making by Brian Laing
In this very detailed project, Brian shows how he turns a complete bowl shape. He does a good job at describing his special techniques including how he dries wet wood and the way that he uses his tools.

Woodturning Bowls Projects by Bob Hamilton

True Economy - Making a bowl from a single board using a dovetail joint by Bob Hamilton

Making a bowl from a single piece of wood is an excellent way to make economical bowls. In addition, it gives you an opportunity to dress up the design by gluing up boards before cutting. In this photo tutorial, Bob shows how he dresses up his bowl using a dovetail joint in his glue up. This is a unique approach to this technique and Bob truly shows his creative nature with this wonderful result!!

This is one project not to miss! It's truly thinking outside the bowl!!

	Turning a square bowl with a lid by Bob Hamilton
In this detailed photo tutorial, Bob shows us how he turns a square turning blank into a bowl while retaining the square shape. He shapes the inside of the bowl to accept a top and then shows us how he makes the top including the knob for opening it. This technique makes for a beautiful covered bowl.

	Making an Angel Wing by Darrell Feltmate
This photo tutorial shows Darrell cutting a thin log into a form of natural edge bowl. But since there's not much wood here, he calls them "Angel Wings". This is a fun but challenging project where you're turning more air that wood. This may not be a beginner's project but has some good learning in it!

	Turning a Natural Edged Bowl by Darrell Feltmate
In this photo tutorial, Darrell mounts a 1/2 log on the natural and rough shapes it to become a natural edge bowl. He shows how he deals with cracks in the wood and deals with the "turning air" component of natural edge bowls.

	Turning the Endgrain Bowl by Darrell Feltmate
In this photo tutorial, Darrell shows us how he turns an end grain bowl. He uses a spalted birch slice which has challenges in this orientation. Using his hook tool and a sanding aid, he is able to get a fine finish. There are lots of good tips in this article!!

	Making a Segmented bowl by Ken Salisbury
Ken Salisbury shows how to create a segmented bowl design using a mechanical method of calculating each segment. Then he shows how he assembles each of the rings and then the bowl blank. He finishes up talking about cutting the bowl to it's finished shape.

	Turning a bowl by Eugen Schlaak
Eugen shows how he roughs out large Chery bowl blanks and how he dries them so that this fruit wood does not crack. Then he shows us how to does the second cutting to get to finish thickness including some tips on cutting the foot of the bowl.

	Natural Edge bowl by Bill Grumbine
Bill Grumbine takes a huge elm burl and shows us how he mounts it to the lathe and turns it into a natural edge bowl. This photo tutorial shows each step along the way. I do not recommend the band saw operation as Bill also advises in this article. Knowing that Bill recommends the cardboard circle method these days, I suggest that you follow that safer method too!

	Making a Square Bowl by Steve Worcester
In this multi-page photo tutorial, Steve shows how to prepare the wood, turn the square bowl and then how to finish it. Because the blank is square, you have four corners rotating at high speed. The cutting of these corners is very critical in getting a good finished bowl.

Woodturning Bowls Projects by Max Krimmel

The Square Plan for Polychromatic "Random" Wood Bowls by Max Krimmel

This is a system for making your wood go further. If you have gone to all the trouble to make a glued up block, it's a shame to see any of it reduced to shavings. In this procedure a block 12" x 12" x 3" is cut up and reassembled into a block 18" x 18" x 2 1/4" which is thin in the middle and appropriately thicker towards the edge.

In this project, Max shares his techniques on making some of the most unusual segmented turnings!

	The Hex Plan for Polychromatic by Max Krimmel
Max Krimmel makes some of the most amazing turning around. This design is based on his hexagonal plan and uses many small pieces of wood to create the blank. Max explains his technique and how he arrives at the blank. It's fun to understand this project and not for the faint of heart!!

	Turning a Large Bowl by David Schneider
Dave shows all the steps of taking a large log and converting it into a bowl blank. Then he shows how he mounts it on the lathe to turn it. It has good clear pictures of the key steps.

	Steps for turning a functional bowl from a log by Alan and Sherry Hockenbery
This project gives a wonderful description on all steps needed to make a functional bowl from a log of wood. It is a good read for beginners or those looking for a quick refresher.

	Dyed Dowel Turning by Howard Lewin
In this project, Howard shows how he dyes dowels and glues them up into a bowl blank. Then he turns them on his lathe. He also shows how builds vase or hollow vessel shapes. This is a very unique technique and adds some wonderful color to his turnings.

	Turning Square Edge Bowls by Don Comer
In this article, Don describes a process that he learned from the famous Australian woodturner, Vic Wood. By using sacrificial blocks glued to four sides of a square bowl blank, you can avoid the sharp edges of a non-round wood blank. It's a very clever technique and can really make turning odd shaped pieces of wood very safe! And also thereby increase your likelihood of success.

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