9. Faceplate work

Speed - Using gouge and cutting action - Use of bevels - Turning bowls - Wooden chucks for special jobs - Unusual bowl turning methods - Scraping tools in use

Perhaps the most common article in shops and stores today, which calls to mind the woodturners' art, is the wooden salad or fruit bowl, but how many people stop to wonder how it is made.

Basically this type of article is made on a faceplate, mounted on the headstock of the lathe, although there are other methods of chucking which I shall deal with later in the chapter. To find out more about faceplates and how they are used, mount a piece of wood and go through the process step by step. All wood used for faceplate work should be first cut to shape with a bandsaw, as this will limit the amount of vibration due to unbalance when the wood is rotated in the lathe. Using a 3 or 4 in. faceplate, mount a piece of wood about 8 in. in diameter and 2 in. thick, centrally, with four woodscrews. This is probably the simplest form of fixing and for some work, the screw holes can be a disadvantage.

However, at this stage, I want to give you the basic idea of faceplate turning. The speed required will be very much slower than that used for turning between centres; as the diameter of the work increases, so the speed at which the outside of the work travels will also increase. For a piece of wood 6 in. to 8 in. in diameter, a rotation speed of 600 to 800 r.p.m. will be required, and for wood 8 in. to 10 in. in dia­meter, 400 to 600 r.p.m. in the first step of roughing out. After the work has been trued up, this can safely be increased to nearly double the r.p.m. Quite often, this depends on the type of wood being used and the nature of it.

If your disc of wood is nearly all heartwood but with a streak of sapwood on one side, a considerable amount of vibration can be expected. Consequently, the lathe will have to be run at the slowest speed all the time. On the other hand, a difficult piece of wood, such as curly grained walnut, may be easier to turn if the lathe is speeded up. You will get to know this by practice and experience.

From time to time people have discussed the merits of different turning methods and most seem to believe that scraping is the only way. I must beg to differ. The dis­advantage of scraping, is that if you are not careful and your tools are not really sharp, the work will have a very rough finish, particularly on portions where there is end grain, but it is also true to say that certain articles can only be finished in this way. I prefer to use the 3/8 in. half round gouge, wherever possible. If it is handled correctly, it will give a beautiful finish with very little sand papering. Once again I must remind you that bad turning cannot be put right with sand paper. In turning between centres, I stressed the point of always working with the grain or from the larger to the smaller diameter, but in faceplate work we need only consider cutting with the grain, wherever possible, or, if it is against the grain, then we take a slicing cut, but always using the gouge with the bevel rubbing the work.

With your lathe set to give a turning speed of about 800 r.p.m., bring up your tool rest as close to the work as possible, and at a height which is about level with the centre line of the work. A little above the centre line will not hurt but never below, if unpleasant surprises are to be avoided. By rotating the wood manually, check that it does not foul the tool rest or lathe bed, then switch on the motor. Using a 5/8 in. half round gouge, held in a similar manner to turning between centres, that is, with the palm downwards and the blade of the tool gripped in the clenched fist or, with the palm upwards and the tool held between fingers, true the face of the wood perfectly flat. I always turn a slight hollow on this side as it will form the base of a bowl and we do not want it to rock all over the place when it is finished. A square ended scraping tool will help to flatten the base.

With the point of a skew chisel mark one or two places on the rotating work which will help to reposition the faceplate for turning the other side. With bowls, plates or for that matter, in any faceplate work, the underside is usually turned first so that any unsightly screw holes on the face side are taken out in the turning.

Using the 3/8 in. half round gouge, commence to shape the outside of the bowl. With the tool on its left side pointing slightly upwards and to the left, push the tool into the work, about 1/4 in. from the outside. This will take off a corner around the disc of wood. A second cut is taken in the same manner, now using the bevel of the tool rubbing the work as a guide. Continue to shape the outside of the bowl in this manner, maintaining the same tool angle and with the bevel always rubbing. On no account try to straighten up the gouge so that it is cutting on its right side, otherwise you will wonder where the tool has gone!

It will be a good idea at this stage if you stop the lathe, and rotating the wood slowly with one hand, hold the gouge against the work at the same angle as I have described and you will quickly see how the cutting action works, and also, that although it is a round piece of wood, we are using the gouge so that it cuts with the grain. Now turn the gouge so that it rests flat on the tool rest, and you will see that this gives a scraping action, and what is more, you will see the danger of the corner of the gouge digging into the wood. Understand these principles and you will find bowl turning very easy.

If you are turning the bowl on the left-hand side of the lathe, the cutting action will be reversed, as the wood is rotating in the opposite direction. That is, your gouge will have to be on its right side and pointing to the right. When you are shaping the base of the bowl the point of the gouge, on its side, can be used. On the other hand, you may find that if your parting tool is nice and sharp, you may be happier using this. The wood should need very little sand papering but keep the paper on the move to prevent scratch rings being formed.

Remove the wood from the faceplate and remount on the base of the bowl. The chisel marks will help you to centralize the faceplate. There are more accurate methods of centring but I will come to that later. Screw the faceplate on to the mandrel and check by hand that it is rotating truly and at the same time, bring up the tool rest as close to the work as possible. The lathe is now started up under power, at the same speed as was used for turning the outside of the bowl.

The first stage in hollowing out is to make a deep V-cut with the point of the skew, about 1 in. in from the outside of the wood and about 3/4 in. deep. This is to form a surface for the bevel of the 3/8 in. gouge to rub against.

Using the 3/8 in. (long and strong) gouge on its left side and the bevel rubbing on the innermost side of the V-cut, start to hollow out the bowl taking separate sweeps of the gouge. Continue in this manner working towards the inside of the bowl and gradually getting deeper. From time to time, take a cut on the other side of the V-cut, but, of course, with the position of the gouge reversed, that is, on its right side, but leaving sufficient wood to keep the outside of the bowl reasonably thick. Working in this manner, the whole of the inside of the bowl can be removed and all that will remain can be removed with a round nosed scraping tool— one of those you made from an old file will do the job nicely. If you stop to think for one moment, you will appreci­ate that in using the gouge to hollow the bowl in this manner, you are cutting the wood with the grain. As you work deeper into the bowl the general stiffness of the long and strong gouge will be helpful and, where possible, readjust the tool rest so that it is still as close to the work as you can get it. Do not adjust your tool rest whilst the work is rotating for it is quite easy to trap your fingers between tool rest and wood and it is most painful.

Bowl turning can be accomplished by the scraping method and some people will probably find this much easier than using the gouge, but unfortunately it is quite easy to damage the fibres of the wood and make finishing much more difficult. For scraping, the spear-pointed chisel can be used to remove the majority of the wood. The tool rest is adjusted so that the cutting edge of the chisel is on the centre line of the work. The outside of the bowl is first cut to shape with the spear-pointed chisel and this will give quite a rough finish, particularly on the end grain. A square ended scrap­ing tool or square chisel is used to take the final cuts.

The bowl is remounted on the faceplate as before and the inside of the bowl removed first with the spear point. It will be easier if a hole of about 1 in. in diameter is first bored in the centre of the bowl and to the required inside depth. The spear pointed chisel is then used in such a manner as to gradually widen the diameter of this starting point, until the whole of the inside of the bowl is removed. Finish the inside taking light cuts with sharp scraping tools which fit the contours of the work. The need for various homemade-scraping tools will soon become apparent, as they cannot be bought to the required shape.

There is one big disadvantage of turning bowls secured by wood screws to a faceplate and that is the comparative ease of hollowing out a perfect bowl, only to find when you stop the lathe, that you have three or four screw ends look­ing at you in the bottom of the bowl. Before hollowing out, make sure you know just how far the screws are in the wood.

One method of obviating screw holes in the finished work, is to first of all screw a block of wood to the faceplate.

This is then turned to the same diameter as the faceplate. The disc of wood for your bowl must then be made smooth and flat on one side, either by hand planing or sanding. This is then stuck centrally to the wooden faceplate block, with a piece of newspaper sandwiched in between. Allow time for the glue to set. Commence to turn the outside of the bowl with whichever method you prefer but the shaping will be different from the previous method, as the base of the bowl is to be the position which is stuck to the faceplate. Take light cuts, or else you will force the bowl off its paper fixing. The inside of the bowl is turned in the normal way, and as we have no woodscrews to look out for, can be turned to a much thinner section. After sanding and polishing the lathe is stopped and, with a sharp blow with your fist, the paper fixing on the base can be easily broken and the bowl removed. Finally sand and scrape the paper away from the base of the bowl.

If you contemplate making a number of bowls, you will want a much quicker way than the glue and paper fixing method and for this the hollow wooden chuck is the answer. To use this type of chuck, you must have plenty of confidence in your turning methods, as any jabbing in of the tool will have your bowl zooming around the workshop like a flying saucer.

Figure 18. Hollow wooden chuck.

Figure 19. Marking stick used in conjunction with hollow chuck.

The first operation in making a hollow chuck is to screw a piece of wood to your faceplate, the diameter being about 1 in. to 11/2 in. larger than the base of your proposed bowls. Take another odd scrap of wood, about 6 in. long, and two brads or small nails and drive them in at a distance apart which will be equal to half the diameter of the base of the bowls. Sharpen the heads of these two nails to a sharp point. This will be our marking gouge to ensure that the bases of all the bowls you turn have the same diameter. With the faceplate and auxiliary block of wood only mounted on your lathe, start the lathe up to turn at about 1,000 r.p.m. Take your marking stick—the piece of wood with the nail points in it—and press one point into the centre of the revolving wooden faceplate and at the same time, press the other so as to make a continuous mark around the faceplate. With a spear-pointed chisel or parting tool, hollow out this portion up to the marked line and to a depth of 3/8 in., taking care to keep the rim of the hollow perfectly square and flat and exactly to the marked line. If the edges of the hollow are slightly rough do not worry about it, as it is an advantage not to have them really smooth. This then, is your hollow chuck which you will always find very useful. Before removing the hollow chuck from the faceplate, register marks should be made on both faceplate and chuck, so that in subsequent operations they can be remounted together exactly as when turned.

The block of wood for your bowl is first mounted to a faceplate, fixing with woodscrews. The base side of the bowl is then turned perfectly flat. With the point of a skew chisel make a slight depression in the dead centre of the work. This will be easily done, as when the wood is rotating, the centre of the work can be easily seen. Taking up your base marker, press one point lightly into the centre of the work, holding it between both hands and supported by the tool rest. Then push the other point so that it scribes a mark on the base of the bowl. This then, is to be the finished size of the base. Commence to turn in the normal way, preferably using the 3/8 in. gouge, and shape the outside of the bowl, being very careful not to cut too close to the marked line on the base. When satisfied that the outside shape is to your liking, carefully shape the base so as to give it a definite step where it joins the curvature of the bowl, thus making the base about 1/2 in. thick. Use the point of a skew chisel for this operation and cut exactly to the scribed mark, keeping the chisel flat on the tool rest. Using a slightly rounded scraping tool slightly hollow the base, partly to remove the centre mark and also to ensure that the bowl will not rock about but will lie flat on the table, when it is finished.

The whole of the outside of the bowl, including the base, should now be lightly sanded and polished. It always looks much better to pick up a bowl which has a nicely polished base. Remove the bowl from the face plate and screw on the wooden chuck which you previously made, making quite sure that it is put on in the same position in which it was taken off. The register marks will help you to do that. If you have turned the base of your bowl accurately, you will find it is a good tight fit in the hollow chuck. If not, a sheet of newspaper sandwiched between the chuck and the base will help to hold it securely. A little persuasion with a wooden mallet will help if it is too tight. The whole opera­tion of hollowing out the bowl will depend on this being a very good fit. Before switching on the lathe, turn the work round by hand to ensure that the bowl is mounted truly. Hollowing out can now be done, using the 3/8 in. long and strong gouge and taking light cuts, as the bowl is only held on to the chuck by the accurate fit of the base. Keep the tool rest as close to the work as possible all the time. Finish off with light cuts with a scraper, if necessary. Sand and polish the inside of the bowl.

To remove from the chuck, all that is needed is a smart blow with your fist on the underside of the bowl whilst supporting it with the other hand. You now have a bowl with no unsightly fixing marks on the base. The chuck and base marking stick should be kept together in some safe place for further use. It is a very good idea to make several of these chucks and marker sticks of various sizes as they always come in very useful.

There is another method of bowl turning which is practised quite a lot in different parts of Europe and which is very similar to the last method, except that the wood for a bowl is first hollowed out and the base and underside turned last. Again we require a marking stick, but this time the distance between the two pins is equal to the radius or half of the diameter of the inside of the bowl measured at the rim. The wooden chuck, which is screwed to a faceplate, is turned to the same diameter and shape as the inside of the proposed bowl, using the marker stick to get the correct outside diameter. The bowl is then first screwed to a face­plate and the inside turned to shape but making the rim slightly smaller in diameter than the sides of the bowl. This should be turned and polished in the usual way. To turn the outside, the bowl is mounted over the prepared wooden chuck and is held tightly by the wooden rim. Newspaper will again help to get a good tight fit, although in this method, the bowl is less likely to be forced out of the chuck, as the shaping action of the outside of the bowl tends to keep the wood pushed well home on the wooden chuck. One advantage of this type of chucking is that bowls which have no definite bases can be turned.

If bowl turning is to be your chief concern several of these chucks should be made up in different sizes.

With all bowl turning more than half of the wood is wasted in chips and shavings thus the price of them is usually very high. To overcome this wastage there is yet another method of bowl turning, in which a number of bowls of different sizes are turned out of one block of wood. Although quite interesting, it is not to be recommended for the beginner, but I think you will like to know about it and as your skill advances, perhaps you would like to try it.

A very large disc of wood is mounted on a faceplate in the normal way, trued up and the outside turned to shape; the base of the bowl being that portion held by the faceplate. The front of the block is then turned flat.

Using normal scraping tools and a specially shaped scraping tool, which looks very much like a sickle with a sharpened hooked end, a small bowl is first hollowed out in the centre of the block, using the round nosed scraping tool. Around this a circle is described and the piece, forming a small bowl, is cut away with the curved tool. This will leave a hollow, which is scraped to shape to form a second and larger bowl. Again the curved scraper is brought into use and the outside of the second bowl is shaped and cut away from the block. This process continues until the whole of the block is made up into graded sizes of bowls.

One disadvantage of this type of turning is that the out-sides of the bowls cannot be finished properly in this opera­tion but have to be remounted on specially shaped chucks to finish the underside. In the old days, this type of bowl was used chiefly by tradesmen to keep money in and for domestic use.

One of the biggest problems in bowl turning is getting a good supply of well-seasoned wood and this is not always an easy task. However, it is possible to turn bowls using fresh sawn wood, if certain precautions are taken. The discs of wood should first be prepared by bandsawing to shape. The disc is then screwed to a faceplate in the usual way, and turned, shaping the outside so that the portion attached to the faceplate forms the base. The inside is then hollowed out but not all the wood is removed. It should be turned so that the side and base of the bowl are about an inch thick. The bowl is removed from the lathe and placed in a dry airy position for about six weeks: a shelf made of wire netting is a good place.

After this period, the wood should be quite dry and free from splits. It is then remounted on the faceplate, trued up and turned to the finished shape. The wood will have prob­ably warped a little in the drying process but as we left sufficient wood in the first stage, this is soon put right in the final turning. If you propose to keep some wet discs of wood for drying, first of all seal the grain with melted tallow or thick paint, around the outside of the discs. If you do not, they will be useless when you come to use them because they will have splits and shakes in the end grain.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...