Turning a Chinaberry Bowl


Well, I’m back. First, a bit of an update on my drying process I explained in my last blog entry. So far I haven’t had a single crack appear while doing this procedure, either with the Pentacryl wood stabilizer or without it. I have two in the drying process now that haven’t had the stabilizer treatment and they should be dried sufficiently in a few days.
For this entry, I thought I’d go along a similar line. I thought I’d write an essay on turning a bowl, from blank through to finishing. I thought that would be something worth writing about. I’ve started on it today and I took some pictures so here goes. I hope you find it interesting.
An old friend who I happened to see last night at a party told me that she had a chinaberry tree in her back yard so she wondered if I could turn a bowl of chinaberry for her. She bought a bowl made of cocobolo a while back and has been real happy with it. I told her that I had one chinaberry bowl in my shop on Etsy, but it is a small one, about 4 inches in diameter. I told her that I had a larger blank just waiting to be turned. She laid claim to it so now I’m writing about it.


Here’s a picture of the small one I turned previously that is listed on my Etsy shop at http://mlcwoodworks.etsy.com
As you can see, chinaberry is a very pretty wood. It has beautiful colors and grain patterns. Another wood turner at a craft fair back in April urged me to try some chinaberry and that he just loved it. I happened to have this small blank at home at the time and got right to it when I got home. This bowl measures about 3-¾“ in diameter and 2-½“ tall. It started from a 4” X 3” blank. The blank I’m working on now is 6” in diameter and 3” tall so I’ll have a little more latitude in shaping the bowl. Chinaberry trees don’t grow that big so 6 or 8 inches is about the largest bowl blank I’ve seen. I’m limited to a little less than 10 inches maximum by my midi lathe anyway.


Okay, on with the new bowl. I started by deciding which side of the blank would be the top and which would be the bottom.. There was a knot near one edge so that was put toward the bottom.
There are a few different ways to mount a bowl blank on to the lathe. Previously, I was using a face plate and screwing it on to the center of the top of the blank with four 1” screws but recently I’ve started using a worm screw mounted in a scroll chuck. This way, I marked the center of the top side and drilled a hole about 3/8" in diameter and 1” deep for the worm screw.

Here’s a picture of the worm screw mounted in the scroll chuck.
The bowl blank is screwed onto the worm screw until the chuck jaws are tight against the surface of the blank. This holds the blank securely and he spinning of the lathe actually serves to tighten the screw, or at least, apply pressure in the tightening direction. I start off putting the tail-stock up against the blank but after any out of round condition is remedied I remove it. The worm screw holds the blank very well.
Some turners start the blank between centers with a spur drive center and a live center in the tail-stock. There are arguments for and against each method but for now I prefer using the worm screw method.






Here is the blank mounted on the worm screw with the tail-stock supporting the bottom of the blank and the tool rest set and ready to turn.
You can see the beauty of this wood. The colors and the grain can be striking, and this blank is no exception.
I start using my 1/2” bowl gouge to turn any irregularities out of the round surface, then start shaping by bringing the bottom edge in toward the center and creating a tenon on the bottom of the bowl. A tenon is a straight protrusion on the bottom that is about 5/16” thick and the proper diameter to be able to be gripped by the scroll chuck when the blank is flipped around to hollow out the inside.





The picture on the right shows the outside has been rough shaped and the tenon created on the bottom.















The smaller picture on the left shows a small hole where the knot was on the surface. It also shows the grain swirling around that knot hole quite nicely. But a hole won’t do so it has to be filled. As I usually do, I filled it with wood shavings ground to a powder and pressed into the hole. Then I drip on some Cyanoacrylate glue(super glue, crazy glue) with a water thin consistency. This allows the glue to soak into the shavings/dust and harden creating a hard filler in the hole. After the glue dried I smoothed the surface using my bowl gouge and side scraper and then lightly sanded with 100 grit sandpaper.








You can see in this picture the hole has been filled and the swirling grain is still there. This wood will look wonderful when the finish is applied, those grain lines will just pop out and practically glow. I wish I didn’t have to wait for it to dry, but that’s the way it is.


















This picture shows the top of the bowl waiting to be hollowed out. This surface still has some of the wax on it which explains the difference in the color. You can also see the marks I used to find the center and the hole where the worm screw was attached. In this case the tenon is being held tightly in the scroll chuck. The diameter at this point is just a little under 6 inches and it will be hollowed out to where the wall thickness is as consistent as possible, not counting the tenon, and that thickness should be approximately 1/10th the diameter. For this bowl at about 5-7/8” in diameter the rough wall thickness should be approximately 5/8”.









And here is the rough turned bowl The grain and color is better than I had hoped. Now, it’s time for the bowl to dry. I am still using the process I explained in my last blog entry so it goes into a paper bag to be heated and cooled every day until it has reached equilibrium with the surrounding air.














Here is one more picture just before putting it into the bag. I’ll continue this saga on my next blog entry after the bowl has dried sufficiently to finish turning and put a finish on it. This will be a pretty bowl when finished , as you will see later. See ya’.