A lot of turners sort of get stuck on hollow forms or bowls, or some other thing they like to make. I do a lot of spindle work and furniture in addition to turning. Below is a table I did on speculation. It only took me three years to get it done too! I turned the top in one shop on one lathe, and then we moved into temporary quarters, and moved again to our current (and last, I hope!) residence. The top was turned two shops and one more lathe later. The inspiration to finish this came from the impending visit of a student who wanted to turn the very same kind of table. I figured it might be a good idea to have it done so that I could show him I knew a little bit about what I was doing.


This is a Shaker candlestand made of curly maple. The top is approximately 20" in diameter, and the table itself is a bit on the high side at 30". It is finished with Bartley's gel varnish, a great finish for wiping on furniture by hand.


Here is a closeup of the top. This wood has lots of curl to it!

These next two bowls were turned for a demonstration I did for a club in New York. I was asked to do an all day seminar on bowl turning. I turned a number of bowls in various styles and with different wall thicknesses. Not all bowls should be thin, and not all should be thick. There is such a variety open to us it would be a shame to not experiment.


This is a fat little cherry bowl that is an ideal salad bowl for two or three people. It is not huge, but it has thick walls, and combined with the shape they give a sense of stability. This bowl is about 11" in diameter and 3" high, with a wall thickness of over 1/2". And for all you folks who love to sand up to 2000 grit or higher, it is sanded to 320, and finished with Watco Danish oil, and finally buffed on the Beall buffing wheel.


Here is the antithesis of the above bowl. It is very thin and light, and is not much good for mashed potatos and sauerkraut, but it is a nice looking piece, and would probably do a good job holding candy, or even nothing at all. This is a piece of plain maple, but the shape in this case is everything, especially combined with the wall thickness. This bowl is around 1/8" to 3/32" in thickness, and is about 11" in diameter by 3 1/2" high. The finish is the same as the above bowl.


Here is a shot looking down. It is a fairly featureless piece of wood. Its attraction is in its overall shape and its lightness.


Here is an unusual piece of walnut. At least, it is unusual to me. The color of it was very uniform, but it had these dramatic purple stripes following the grain. This bowl is approximately 14" in diameter and 4 1/2" high, finished with my usual Watco and buffed.


Here is a shot where you can really see the stripes. During a show where this bowl was being exhibited, a lady was looking at it and several others of a similar shape. All of a sudden she exclaimed that she had suddenly realized what she liked about these particular bowls. "They all have the shape of a contact lens!", she said. Upon reflection, and examination of my own contact lenses, it turned out she was right. I try to turn shapes that are pleasing to the eye, but I never realized I was turning shapes that mimicked the human eye! It is, of course, one of those natural curves that many people find pleasing, even if they do not know why.