Woodworker's Journal winter-2009, страница 16

The Soft Underbelly of Bowls

our expert teaches a great trick shaping up your bowl bottoms.

for

by betty scarpino

There's an irresistible urge among many bowl turners to pick up a fellow turner's bowl and check out the bottom. As we casually sneak a peek underneath, we want to know if it received the same amount of attention as the rest of the vessel. Does the bottom curve agree with the inside form of the bowl? Is the shape pleasing? Are there sanding scratches? How well do the bottoms of your bowls hold up to this kind of scrutiny?

Available Equipment

Self-centering scroll chucks are available for helping with the task of finishing the bottoms of bowls, and each manufacturer has a different design and variety. In most cases, once you purchase the chuck body, costing anywhere from about $160 to $300, you can accessorize the chuck with a multitude of optional jaws, at relatively modest cost. The type of jaws you would use for holding a turned bowl in order to finish the bottom would be of the sort that are wide, such as jumbo jaws or button jaws.

In addition to scroll chucks, vacuum chucks are options for holding a bowl on the lathe for re-turning, as well as for many other applications. You might want to