# bowls with tool marks



## softaly2 (Jun 13, 2011)

I am very new to turning and am working on two bowls. I get a tool line/scrape going around inside the bowl. So I sand and it doesn't come out so I get the gouge and take a little more wood off and then I put a scrape elsewhere. I hand sand with cut up pieces of sand paper starting at 80 and ending at 600 grit. Also my turning with the gouge is not perfectly even and takes a lot of sanding. Am I missing a technique/experience or do I need to sand with an orbital sander? One last thing, does every turner own a chain saw?
Thanks in advance for responses


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Softy,
It takes a bit of practice to learn good tool control. I always recommend new turners try to find a turning club in their area if available. If not, try and find a local turner to help you get started. Better to learn the right way instead of trying to get rid of bad habits. Take your time, look up some of John Lucas's videos on Utube, that should help. Bowls aren't as easy to turn as they look. What seems like a simple shape is really a piece of wood changing grain direction during each revolution. Course if it was easy, it wouldn't be as much fun.
Mike Hawkins


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## Bonanza35 (Jan 20, 2011)

As for your tool marks all I can say is you are in good company. I think that's a pretty normal experience as you are developing your tool technique. Stick with it and have fun. 
A chainsaw is pretty handy if you have access to timber. A bandsaw is great to have too. Of course you can always buy prepared blanks from retailers but that can get pretty expensive if you turn a lot.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

There are two kinds of tool marks. Torn grain and bruised wood. torn grain should be obvious. There are holes in the wood where the grain was torn or plucked out. Usually by using tools that aren't sharp enough, pushing the tool faster than it wants to cut (I call it forcing the cut) or cutting uphill against the grain. Usually a little of all 3. Try to cut downhill with the grain. use sharp tools and try not to force the cut. Relax your grip and let the tool do the cutting.

The second is bruising. This is a defect that is difficult to see when your sanding but shows up when you start finishing. What causes this is the bottom corner of the bevel of your bowl gouge. When you grind the tool the bottom edge is kind of sharp. It can easily bruise the wood or compress the fibers. It won't sand out and comes back every time you get to the finishing stage. The cure is to grind off this sharp corner and try not to put so much pressure on the bevel. Think of it as gliding the bevel rather than riding the bevel when you turn.


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## BigJoe16 (Feb 20, 2012)

I used to have the same problem. I would sand the hell out of it and just burn my fingers and waste paper. Then a friend of mine gave me a 8 piece tool set and it has a round nose scraper and a pointed scraper. It smoothed it all out and got rid of any tear out. it is definitely worth buying one even just a cheap one


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## hughie (Mar 22, 2008)

welcome to the world of the 80grit gouge :laughing:


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## softaly2 (Jun 13, 2011)

Thanks everyone. Yes it is a very fine line that goes around the inside surface of the bowl. Sand and sand seems to not really get rid of it. Going in with the gouge seems to either not get rid of it or it moves elsewhere. Thanks for the tips on scrapers and finding a club. I found a local and will be attending.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

My video on shear scraping may help you out. It's easier than sanding.


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## Ben M (Apr 19, 2012)

I'm trying to get by with neither a chainsaw nor a bandsaw. (Why? Because I'm a beginner, and I didn't want to over-invest in tools until I found out whether the hobby agreed with me.) 

For logs, which I've only recently started working with, I've been getting by with a tablesaw and some homemade jigs and sleds for handling irregular objects. Two 3" tablesaw cuts, plus a handsaw and/or chisel to finish things off, has been able to get me through most of the stock I wanted to work with. But it's time-consuming, and during the jig-R&D phase it was not as safe as I generally want to be. 

Speaking of safe: has anyone tried getting by with a Sawzall instead of a chainsaw? I see there is such a thing as a 12" pruning blade, which I would think can make all the bowl-blank-prep cuts I actually need.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Ben I had been turning for a few years and finally got into green bowl turning. I only had a shopsmith and did not have a bandsaw. I cut all my wood by hand with a bow saw. You can buy them quite inexpensively. It also raises your heart rate and is good exercise. It seldom cuts straight on larger blanks so I used a hatchet to get them round enough to fit on the lathe. Sounds like a lot of work and it is, but it let me turn a bunch of bowls until I could finally afford a chainsaw. 
In fact when I started turning green bowls I went into the woods around my property and found downed trees. Cut off thick limbs that would make bowls. Cut them to lengths that I could drag using an old backpack frame and some rope, and drug them out of the woods. It was also a lot of work but I looked at it as good aerobic exercise. 
That along with hand cutting and splitting all the wood I used in my wood stove not only kept me in good shape it got us through some rough time financially. 

These saws work well but what I did was buy the blades and make my own out of wood. 
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=44171&cat=1,42884


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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

Ben M said:


> I'm trying to get by with neither a chainsaw nor a bandsaw. (Why? Because I'm a beginner, and I didn't want to over-invest in tools until I found out whether the hobby agreed with me.)
> 
> For logs, which I've only recently started working with, I've been getting by with a tablesaw and some homemade jigs and sleds for handling irregular objects. Two 3" tablesaw cuts, plus a handsaw and/or chisel to finish things off, has been able to get me through most of the stock I wanted to work with. But it's time-consuming, and during the jig-R&D phase it was not as safe as I generally want to be.
> 
> Speaking of safe: has anyone tried getting by with a Sawzall instead of a chainsaw? I see there is such a thing as a 12" pruning blade, which I would think can make all the bowl-blank-prep cuts I actually need.


you should be able to get buy with just a simple wood blade! that would def speed up your process. I have been cutting and harvesting my own timber for 5 years now, i love it. regardless of what tool you use it is still hard work! but for not investing a ton of money and if you have access to a sawzall you can make pretty decent cuts with them! i have cut 6-8 in logs with my cordless sawzall when my chainsaw was down when we got hit with those storms!


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