Section 3

Woodturning tools – Turning a fruit bowl

Article 2 discussed the woodturning project, securing your fruit bowl to the lathe, safety, proper tool use, and where to find information on tool use and different techniques. The bowl’s sidewalls and bottom are the thickness you want, and you’ve made a certain allowance in thickness to sand the bowl. With all that work completed, let’s finish the bowl.

Sanding, start with 60 grit sandpaper and finish with 250 grit sandpaper; these are approximate; the different types of wood, the type of finish you are going to use, and your experience all affect the finishing process. Sand until all tool marks are gone. 60 to 250 grit is what I generally use; sometimes I go to 320 for the final sanding. This all depends on the type of wood and the finish you are going to use.

You can sand the bowl by hand. The disadvantage of sanding by hand; is that sanding is slow and tedious and it is very difficult to sand the concentric rings that will appear at the bottom of the bucket. The main cause of this is sanding speed. I use power tools to do the sanding, a 45º variable speed angle drill with an RPM of at least 2500. You can also use a pneumatic sander; high speed will give a very smooth finish. 3″ sanding discs seem to be generally the best size. Go slow until you get the feel of sanding, heavy grit tends to snag when new – some bruised knuckles, you’ll understand.

To finish the bottom of the bowl; Remove the scrap block, use a wood chisel and carefully drive it between the bin and the scrap block in several places, being careful not to puncture the bin. The bottom can be sanded flat with a belt sander or there are several large mandrels that can hold the bowl so you can finish the bottom. This is known as a reverse spin because you are spinning the bowl and finishing the bottom.

Time to put some finishing compound in your bowl. You can finish it naturally or stain the wood, this is entirely up to you. Just be sure to read the instructions for each product to make sure they’re compatible. One of the simplest and easiest finishes to use is a hand rubbed oil, the only drawback is that this type of finish will show any blemishes or scratches left over from sanding. You can mix your own finish; there are many recipes online or in wood magazines. They all contain a solvent of some kind, alcohol based paint thinner, the reason I mention this is because different solvents evaporate at different rates, in cold weather you want to use a faster solvent and in hot weather a slower one. One of my favorite finishes is the one from Dailys called Profin, gloss. The gloss can be polished to a satin or semi-gloss shine and will not darken the wood.

Now you have a fruit bowl for your table that you can be proud of. Feel free to experiment with different species of wood, turning is fun.

He has turned his fruit bowl upside down with woodturning tools. To finish you will need sandpaper and a finishing compound.