RO90 and Bowl Turning

[Birdhunter]

I’m turning a bowl out of a slice from a cedar tree. The slice started out about 24” in diameter and 15” high. It’s been a very difficult project. At one point, the bowl split in half and flew off the lathe. I was wearing a full face helmet and very happy I was

After gluing the pieces together, I put the bowl back on the lathe. My normal sanding techniques were leaving scratch marks so I pulled out the RO90 with the round pad. I mounted a 180 grit disk. The RO90 in random orbit mode did a perfect job!

No more scratches.

 

[Alanbach]

Be careful out there! I know a man who sells his bowls and vessels professionally.  I once asked him why the particular bowl (very large) that I was looking at had a little red tear drop painted next to his signature on the bottom of the bowl. He said: “Well that one drew blood from me so I marked it up to remember”. I am pretty sure he charged more for it too!

 

[Birdhunter]

I used to turn large natural edge bowls out of Mesquite burl. The bowl edges had the bark attached and were totally invisible when spinning. I always wore the face shield helmet and heavy leather gloves. The bark edges would rip your hand apart instantly if touched.

The bowls went for $800 to $1000. I can’t find the Mesquite bowl blanks anymore. Mine came from West Texas and had to be fumigated to kill the powder post beetles.

 

[Alanbach]

I’m in Texas and even today so much Mesquite just goes to the burn pile or chopped up for BBQ wood. There is so much of it here it is considered just a nuisance by many land owners. Much of it is not big enough to yield nice sized bowl blanks.

 

[Birdhunter]

The burl blanks I bought were about 18” cubes with bark on one edge. Beautiful!

I occasionally hit large worms and got sprayed with worm juice. The worms were about 2” long and 5mm wide. The fumigation didn’t get under the wood surface to kill them. I had to clean the face plate to get the worm juice off so I could continue working. Messy!

 

[Alanbach]

Sounds like you need a face shield and a raincoat to turn those blanks.

 

[Birdhunter]

I wear a helmet with a flip down face shield. The helmet blows filtered air over my face. I wear a smock and heavy leather gloves. I also clean the lathe and the floor around the lathe frequently. I have a 2HP cyclone vac sucking dust and small chips away.

I vacuum my clothes when I am done for the day and take a shower to get any dust rinsed off.

I try to be careful.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member]  I woodturn when I can too. I have hesitated to use my RO90 due to the warnings of large amount of fine dust generated that can ruin the sander . Many woodturners (including myself) use an inexpensive HarborFreight right angle drill. I recently purchased a small pneumatic ROS and found for the higher grits this works wonders.

Mike

 

[Birdhunter]

I had the RO90 hooked up to a vac and saw very little dust. I do have a right angle sander and it has been the mainstay for over 20 years. The RO90 left a much better surface than did the right angle sander.