# #4 Mesquite Bowl



## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

This is the 4th item I have turned and I'm pleased with my improvement. On one hand, this piece has some rough spots, some bad tool marks and the interior of the bowl doesn't have a real good shape. On the other, my FIL's lathe sucks. Sorry, but its true. I think I may be slowly killing it. The belt will not stay on an speed higher than low so this piece was turned all on low speed. Lots of catches and hang ups and frankly, the tools just don't cut worth a damn. Mesquite is hard. 

Anyhow, I love te piece of wood, a big mesquite burl off a tree limb that fell in my yard during a storm. 

I roughed it out best I could with a big gouge but it was slow going. My hands hurt now, heh. I used a bowl gouge, a big skew and a little skew here and there. I was back and forth to the grinder every half hour at least. Trying to take out all the tool marks made more tool marks. I hit it hard with a rasp, a couple files, and a 50 grit sanding disc but it was not coming out. 

Finished with 330 paper and Johnson's paste wax. 

On to the next thing! I think I'm going to do something soft next and in the meantime, work on building a workshop in the back yard so I can get a non old and busted lathe.


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## kd5nay (May 25, 2012)

Very cool! What are you thinking of doing with the opening in the side? Or are you gonna keep it there for character?


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Well your getting there. You should not every need a skew to turn a bowl. Your bowl gouge is the best bet. Mesquite is hard, not a good wood for a newbie to be turning. Check out some of my videos to understand how to keep the bevel of the tool rubbing. It will help you avoid catches. I haven't done one on the bowl gouge itself. The one on an alternative to the roughing gouge is a good one. go to www.youtube.com and type in john60lucas and it will bring up all of them. Hopefully the sharpening videos will help as well.


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

It's done as is. At some point I will learn to use some sort of body fller to take care of holes and what not but this one is probably not the place to learn...lots of holes. 

John: I actually have watched a handful of your videos in the past few days and found them very informative. In this case, I threw everything I had at this darn thing and still felt like I was wrestling grizzly bear. I had it in my head I was going to use the bowl gouge and nothing else and do it 'right' but at the slow speed and hard wood, it wouldn't bite. I was catching on flat surfaces and such. I was forced to get somewhat creative and, well, the results are evident, unfortunately. That said, for much of it, I did use the bowl gouge or the bigger one, only using the skew to cut when I couldn't get anything else going. 

I did see the one video where yo usedthe bowl gouge, held the handle low and avoided catcing the square corner on a bowl you were turning. I tried angling and adjusting position of the tool on the rest with some success and that's how I got it done for the most part. 

Essentially, the machine, a 100 year old relic, has 3 speeds where you manually move the belt except the belt would not engage on the mid-range after a while no matter what we tried so we were resigned to low speed and it just wouldn't bite. I suppose I went to the skews out of frustration, trying to hog out the material that was slow going I even tried it with a carbie bit on a boring bar on the crank system and that was a no go. Just barely pushing it quarter turns hung it up on flat surfaces. 

I will definitely watch more of your videos, as I said, I found them informative. I think, however, I'm going to stick to softer wood until I get a good, strong machine of my own. The reason I use mesquite is that I have a ton of it and, well, its pretty. I have a ton of oak and cedar too. 

I appreciate the suggestions and critique. I'm here to learn more than anything.


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## kd5nay (May 25, 2012)

Feel free to send some of that cedar this way to get it off your hands.


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

kd5nay said:


> Feel free to send some of that cedar this way to get it off your hands.


The good news is that I have about 825 acres just covered with cedar. The bad news is that none of it grows straight or large. You have to really hunt for logs more than 10-12" in diameter. That said, I'm going to go out in the morning and get into my stash. I have some decent sized logs I cut a year ago and some more mesquite I cut up a month ago. 

I'm trying hard to not cut down any live trees, just find downed stuff but because cedar is so prolific and some what of a nuisance, I'll make an exception.


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

Ah, the devil is in the details....

Granted, I was right next to the grinder and the tools were pretty sharp, at least as sharp as I could get them but....how they are shaped and sharpened is something i need to pay closer attention to. That said, not my tools. Also, I didn't have a proper bowl gouge, more like 3 different sized roughing gouges. Now I know the difference. I hogged alot of waste with the big one and used the smaller one to (try) to fine cut the interior. 

I helps watching the video, going out and making something then rewatching the video.


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## JC WOODTURNING (Jun 6, 2012)

Just a few comments on my part. First, your doing fine. You picked a hard wood, a burl at that, and with bad equipment it made it much harder.
Secondly, learn from others but try different methods that may work better for you. There is a great sense of "feel" to turning and you have to find that out with experience.
Lastly, I see a lot of "how to sharpen" videos and special tools designed to sharpen your tools the "correct" way. Well, the "correct" way is good if you want to have it the same way as when you bought it. If it works for you then by all means sharpen it that way. Otherwise, sharpen them to fit the way you use them. I rarely can buy a chisel off the shelf and jump into turning without "tweeking" it a little by putting the edge on it that works best for me.

Keep turning, find another lathe to cut another bowl on and use a medium density wood like Maple or Walnut. Too soft can be just as tough to turn as some of the harder woods like Mesquite. 
Want a challenge, turn some Bass wood or Balsa wood. You will spend more time sharpening than you thought you would.

Just my thoughts.....have fun!


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

Practice, practice, practice....

I have a chunk of pine I smuggled back from vacation that should be nice and soft. Going to make a couple simple bowls.


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## cuerodoc (Jan 27, 2012)

First off--nice bowl! I use mostly mesquite--I like the patterns and find it to be a forgiving wood. Like you I "harvest" my own and process it myself--sometimes I take large logs to the sawyer. I also work with live oak--VERY hard wood, pecan, cedar, and occasional exotics. Appreciate your using the antique lathe--think I'd suggest a new belt. As for the turning I know that folks like to use the traditional tools but there is some to be said for carbide tipped chisels--there are some inexpensive ones to be had and I find they work quite well. I live not too far from you (Cuero) and do make trips to SA since we have family there-- can PM me anytime. Might have some suggestions for finishes too.


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## lion6255 (Jun 3, 2012)

Alot of work there very nice tho....


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I've had to unfortunately push back my time table for acquiring my own lathe some so I've not been turning recently but I have been gathering wood and scouting the ranch. Soon as I get it home, set up and ready to rock, I'll be busy turning for weeks on what I already have.

I've been hellbent on the Nova 1624-44 and I'll need a set of tools to get started so its a little bit out of budget. Wife's car had to have some work this week and that ate into the 'lathe fund'


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