PADAUK BOWL
Starting to shape the bowl
To start this bowl the Padauk blank was marked up for centre using a centre finder square and then centre punched. This was done on what I was considering would be the inside of the bowl, I then attached a face-plate to allow me to mount to the lathe. Turning the outside of the bowl to shape it was lovely and the Padauk although quite a hard wood, did turn easily. I made a mortise in the bottom to allow me to hold it in expansion mode on the chuck once I flip it around to do the inside.
What a mess it makes
So, going back to the mess it makes, oh wow, does it ever. I considered using a full onsie suit at one point due to the orangeness that was staining me. It wasn’t long before the entire bed of the lathe was covered and myself included. It took a while to clean up but nearly as long as cleaning the fake tan affect it had given me and my partially bold head. Even after two showers I still found an orange/red blemish the next morning on my pillow. Anyway, I digress, the Inside of the bowl was next and then finishing.
The Final Parts
The inside of the bowl was simple again, I turned the piece round and got rid of the face plate, located the piece on the 50mm chuck jaws and opened them to create a expansion fit to the inside of the mortise I created earlier. It was just a case of hollowing out the inside to the desired depth and wall thickness, which on this piece I decided to keep thicker. Finishing with Sandpaper between grits 240 and 400, a short spell with some Yorkshire Grit and then I layered with Mineral Oil.
Well that went well
The overall look of the bowl is exactly what I was after and considering this was my very first project with a lathe, I was ecstatic with the results. It was a very hard cut and the tools did require a good amount of sharpening to ensure a good, clean cut. but the look of the Chatoyance rippling through this is amazing. It feels smooth and silky and is somewhat mesmerising to look at, following the grain in its water-flow like pattern.
Its heavy too, not too much, but it has an air or certainty to the weight, giving it a firm foot and really doesn’t want to go anywhere once placed.
I will definitely use this wood again, but not for a little while as it is a pig to clean up, totally worth it, but still, hope you like it.