WWGOA GOLD LIVE: Bowl Turning

This WWGOA GOLD LIVE event is all about the fine art of turning a bowl using a four jaw chuck. George Vondriska explains the best way to set up your tool and demonstrates how to move your wood to create a perfectly round bowl.

THIS EVENT IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR WWGOA GOLD AND PLATINUM MEMBERS

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94 Responses to “WWGOA GOLD LIVE: Bowl Turning”

  1. WS60

    What are the best gouges to cut out the inside of the bowl. I am a new wood worker and my projects come out very nice, but it takes me 4 times as long as I ve seen it done on video or you tube. Also no matter how careful I am my tools never glide smoothly like the ones I ve seen on you tube. Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello. Depending on the manufacturer of your chuck, it is common to find a variety jaw sizes. It is more common to create a custom jam chuck to fit the inside of your bowl. A vacuum chuck is also useful for this.
      I’d suggest a good set of bowl gouges such as this one: https://amzn.to/2NCkayb you can definitely spend a lot more than this, but these are very good quality for the price. You’ll also want a lowspeed grinding wheel for sharpening your chisels if you go with traditional high speed steel tools (as opposed to carbide insert tooling). Here is the one that I use and it works well. https://amzn.to/2u642gl

      You will also want a sharpening jig because it makes all the difference for turning. Here is the one that I use, and I consider it to be the best one out there. http://amzn.to/2fxJR6s
      Thanks
      Paul-Woodworkers Guild of America

      Reply
  2. WS60

    To use a big enough chuck to fit in the inside of the bowl your turning, so do they make chuck that expand to say 6”?

    Reply
    • George Vondriska
      George Vondriska

      Yep, I’ve done this. It’s an art, not a science, and fun to experiment with. Not a bad idea to get a shop microwave instead of using the one in your kitchen. Some woods leave a pretty bad smell in the microwave.

      Reply
  3. Russell

    Late getting in but watching from Emily, MN. Always enjoy watching and learning more ways to work with my lathe and saws and other tools. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Eric

    On your Green turnings, are you leaving them thicker to dry and prevent warping? and how long are you leaving them to dry?

    Reply
  5. Dan

    Hello, woodshop teacher in Okinawa Japan here, thank you for this class! I am wondering why George prefers to turn green wood over kiln dryed?

    Reply
  6. raedwa01

    Why bother with the bottom recess when you have the bowl edge chuck and could have put the flat bottom against it?

    Reply
    • George Vondriska
      George Vondriska

      The edge chuck doesn’t grip well enough to do an entire bowl with aggressive cuts. But it works great for the light passes you need to finish the bottom.

      Reply
  7. rossvh

    My problem is that the end grain on some woods turns so rough (on the bowl you are currently turning) that it is hard to get it smooth – compared to the long grain parts of the bowl.

    Reply
    • George Vondriska
      George Vondriska

      End grain is always a problem. You’ve got to make certain that your chisels are sharp, and take light passes as you finalize the shape. That’ll help a lot. On the outside of a bowl work “downhill” by going from the center of the bowl toward the outside. On the inside of the bowl go from the rim toward the center.

      Reply
  8. William

    George…am thinking about picking up a nice lathe. What features in a lathe could you not live without?

    Reply
  9. aughtago

    Have you tried the method involving scraps placed into a mold, then filled with epoxy, then turned on the lath to make a bowl? if so what epoxy do you recommend?

    Reply
  10. Tom Schrock

    I’m not sure how to log in to my “gold website” Hopefully when I click on submit, it will take me to it.

    Reply
  11. bill

    Looking forward to this event. I’m just getting started in turning…taking class at a local junior college. So far so good but definitely find it to be a challenge. It clearly isn’t something that comes natural to me.

    Reply
  12. Frank

    Will you be demonstrating with any particular species of wood? Will you be discussing about certain species that will NOT work well in a 4 jaw chuck?

    Reply
  13. Claude Jay

    I own 10 Easy Wood Lathe Tools and would like to know if they are really any better than the conventional lathe tools? I’ve never used the conventional tools and I don’t know anything about sharpening these tools.

    Reply
  14. George Vondriska
    George Vondriska

    I LOVE bowl turning, so I’m looking forward to tonight’s session. Hope you can join us and see how things “turn out.” 🙂

    Reply
    • Sam Kirchoff

      Yes, all gold members will be able to access this video from their dashboards within a few days of the live event, so no need to worry!

      Reply