Elvie Jackson took time from running his tree-cutting service to show us his basics of turning wood bowls from green blanks.

Elvie starts by using an old wood chisel to remove any bark on the blank. He determines the rough center, clears a flat for the tailstock, and uses a 2-prong center, perpendicular to the grain.

Safety notes: Before you turn on the power, remember to always rotate the workpiece by hand to ensure that it clears the toolrest and ways of the lathe! Remove any jewelry such as your watch, wrist-band, and/or bracelets. Elvie wears a skull cap, similar to those worn by welders and bikers, to protect his hair.

Set the toolrest so that your bowl gouge cuts at center or just above. Start at about 700 RPM. You can get a good speed by advancing the speed until the lathe begins to shake and then backing off just a bit.

When roughing the outside, let the tool do the work. Keep your eye on the profile at the back of lathe. Elvie aims for a “nice, sensuous curve”. He then cuts a 3” diameter tenon for his stronghold scroll chuck. True and square the shoulder for a 3/8” depth. Keep it shallow or it will bottom out in the chuck and work loose later. Leave a small nib when rough turning to aid in re-mounting later.

Practice clean cuts from the beginning. By the time you approach the final cuts, your body will have the muscle memory to make a good cut.

Reverse chuck (put the tenon in your scroll chuck) to rough the inside. Use the tailstock by moving it up to the piece, turning on the lathe at a slow speed, and then advancing the tailstock into the piece. This helps it to self-center. Rough the inside, leaving ¾” to 1” rim. Date the rough turning. Elvie air-dries his blanks on a concrete floor for a year.

Repeat the cutting sequence of outside then inside after the piece has air-dried. Practice your cuts to make them smooth as you approach the final shape. Use a shear scraper to clean up any ridges and to get the best possible surface before sanding.

Elvie is a very accomplished woodturner and we were indeed ivileged to have him demonstrate at our meeting. Thanks Elvie for revisiting the basics of bowl turning!