A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
…Mark Twain, 1835-1910…American author and humorist
Woodturning a salad bowl set on the wood lathe is a fun woodworking project for the wood turner. It is also quite gratifying to enjoy one’s dinner salad and one’s fine woodworking in the evening with family and friends. While the wood lathe can be used to turn wood projects that are quite utilitarian it can also be a source for creating wood art. It just takes a bit of imagination. Join me and learn how a wood turner makes segmented bowls on a wood lathe.
See the process of making a Salad Bowl by using segmented woodturning techniques.
Stave Segements for Dinner Salad Bowl
Each bowl has 12 staved segments of mahogany and 12 vertical spacers of walnut. The staves were cut on the ten inch compound mitre saw while the vertical spacers were ripped on the table saw and then sanded on the open drum sander. As you can see in this picture the staves and vertical spacers are being prepared for the gluing process. The masking tape secures and aligns the joints while the yellow glue is applied. The tape will also serve as a temporary hinge for each joint when the joints are closed.
Segmented wood bowls prepared for woodturning
In the picture you can see halves of a segmented bowl as they are glued. Notice that the bottom joints on both halves are flat to the table surface. This is important as these joints will need to be tight fitting when the two bowl halves join together. Two walnut spacers remain as they will be fit between the two bowl halves.
Food-Safe wood finish for salad bowls
Once the wood turner is finished turning the wood bowls on the turning lathe it is simply time for any final sanding. To complete the woodturning project a food-safe finish is needed. A wipe on wood finish is applied to the wood turned bowls with a soft cotton rag. In this case Watco butcher block oil and finish is used for multiple coats.
Turning on a lathe is enjoyable and you will find segmented wood turning to be a fascinating process. Once you start the wood craft of turning it may be difficult to stop!
Learn more about Segmented Woodturning.
Watch and enjoy Woodtuning Videos!
The Apprentice and The Journeyman University
