Woodturning for beginners birds mouth bowls in 5 easy steps
With these easy steps anyone can turn a birds mouth bowl. These bowls are a great way to use those small logs and branches.
The foredom rotary tool i used amzn.to/46VWGft
The kutzall burr i used amzn.to/3MvonUj
Visit blacklabelwoodworks.com to see more of what I make.
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Some of the tools I use in my shop.
Grizzly G0766 lathe amzn.to/3kiHBhX
Hurricane turning tools bowl gouges amzn.to/3CY32Mp
Hurricane turning tools skews amzn.to/2YrfkxQ
Nova Supernova 2 chuck amzn.to/3kmeoT8
Grizzly 17” bandsaw amzn.to/3qh1ee4
Wen slow speed grinder 8” amzn.to/3D0YfK6Turning birds mouth bowls is a great way to use all those small pieces of logs and branches. They are great practice without using expensive pieces of wood. You can literally go into your backyard and grab any decent size branch to use.
Nice project. You can better than half your hollowing time if you bore out a starter hole with a large Forstner or Boring bit. Wakodahatchee Chris
I really enjoyed your video . I have done bird mouth joinery from Dave Henry..great woodworking .Do not understand bowls on a lathe as bird joinery.I do not expect an answer ,but confessed. Julien Lamarche Just found you tonight will watch more.
In woodturning the birds mouth refers to the shape of the rim resembling a baby bird getting fed. If I made the recurve more pronounced it would look more like it. Thanks for taking the time to watch.
That came out cute, Robin!
The way you mounted the wood blew my mind. Never thought about spinning the log from its side like that. You ended up with such a beautiful texture I was truly amazed and learned something new at the same time.
Glad you liked it!
Voici une belle réalisation que l'on peut créer effectivement avec des morceaux de branches,génial et merçi de transmettre pour les novices.👍
Thank you
Great little project! And cute (or handsome).
Thank you! 😊
A pretty little bowl. I like it very much.
Thank you! Cheers!
That's beautiful 😮
Thank you! 😊
What an exquisite treasure. A beautiful hand crafted work of art.
Thank you very much!
I love it so much!
Thats a nice fun little project - thank you for sharing! 😀
Thanks for watching!
Nice work! I am looking for a fun hobby to relieve some stress. Turning wood looks to be really relaxing and satisfying. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching.
Just got my first lathe and turned my first bowl. Looking for beginner projects. This is gorgeous!
Thanks for watching. Glad I could give some inspiration.
What an awesome design. 👍👍
Thank you! Cheers!
Great projects
Thanks for watching
Nice work! Great video!
Thanks for the visit
What a fun project! Nice job 👌
Thanks so much!
Nice little piece. I am going to have a go at one.
Thanks for allowing me to give you inspiration on your next turning project.
Nice work.
Thanks!
Nicely done.
Thank you! Cheers!
Nice little bowl 👍. Couldn’t help but notice the table on your table saw 😢 needs some love…
Thanks for watching. Sometimes i procrastinate on waxing that. I don't use it as much as i used to.
Nice job....people alway ask me to turn a salad bowl....i like tge small cute stuff...lovely birdsmouth bowl
Thank you! 😊
Thank you Bonne Noel 🎉
Any time!
Thanks for sharing that.
Thanks for watching
Sweet little birds mouth
Thanks for watching
Awesome 👍 just like myself😅
Nice work and video, but I've never before heard anyone say to turn green wood thin to prevent cracking.
Thanks for the comment. Cracking happens when the end grain dries faster then the side grain. If you turn thin it speeds up the side grain drying to minimize the chance of crack forming.
Now I can get my eucalyptus branches done!
Glad i could give you some inspiration.
Also, did you use CA glue on the pitch on the bowl sides to prevent cracking?
I did not need to for this wood type but some types you may need to.
A nice little bowl you could have mounted it on a jamb chuck and cone center and turned off the tenon and made a foot
Nice Work. Question, did the sides check around the heartwood center?
They did not crack around the pith i left in the walls. I turned the walls pretty thin so they dried fast enough to not form cracks. This does not work for all woods I wouldnt attempt this with cherry. Cherry will start to crack if you look at it the wrong way.
Pardon my ignorance, how long and what is your drying process to prevent cracking? I'm new to this and love your work. Thanks!
The length would be the same as the diameter of the branch. It was around 3 inches I just eyeballed it. I turned it to a 1/8 inch wall thickness and put it in a paper until it was dry. Took about a week or so. The bag slows down the drying to keep it from cracking. Thanks for taking the time to watch.
@@BlackLabelwoodworks I put my turned green pieces in a plastic garbage can full of shavings. Works really well.
why didnt you sand it on the lathe before removing the tenon? I am a beginner so please excuse if it is a stupid question?
You can but you would still need to do some sanding after it dries. I got a reasonably good finish with my tools so sanding was not needed before it dried.
How long should you leave a piece of tree log say 6” dia from being cut to working it and any tips for its preparation please?
You can turn it right away for something like this. If you keep the wall thickness less then 1/4 inch and put it in a paper bag or seal the outside it should dry without cracking. If your trying to dry a 6 inch diameter branch it will take years to dry and you will want to remove the bark. A rule of thumb for drying wood is a year per inch of thickness.
Very enjoyable. What was your R.P.M. doing that little job 😊
Thank you. I think it was around 1000 rpm for most of the turning.
Very nice! Might want to sharpen your gouge a bit better...
What hallowing tool are you using?
I use John Jordan hollowing tools. This one is a 3/8 inch that I made a handle. I have larger ones all the way up to 3/4 inch.
Sorry might have missed the type of wood this is ? The grain rocks
Not 100% sure but my best guess would be some type of locust branch.
What brand is that gooseneck hollowing tool?
Its a 3/8 hollowing tool from John Jordan woodturning. It uses a 3/16 inch HSS bit.
May be late, buy=t it would have been good to see your tools stopped and did you make them too? Thanks
All the tools i used are commercially made. I used a 5/8 bowl gouge from hurricane tools and the goose neck hollower was a 3/8 curved neck from John Jordan tools.
At the beginning you drilled a hole off center. Was this for aesthetic purposes?
Its possible i could have been a little off i only eyeballed it when drilling. The only purpose of the hole was to give my drive center a flat spot to sit on while i shaped the outside between centers. Thanks for watching.
I don’t have a “ Goose neck “ scraper, can it be done with just the bowl gouge plz ?
Yes you can do it with a bowl gouge. It just makes it easier to get under the narrow part with the goose neck. Here is a larger one I made were I used only a bowl gouge on the inside. I put a time stamp in at the inside hollowing. kzhead.info/sun/frqkpraXmHOfYGw/bejne.htmlsi=6RQOc9AihG2taQyX&t=426
@@BlackLabelwoodworks thank you
G'day a semi beginner here, i have a couple of questions please. 1st at the start you used a bowl gouge, can/could you use a spindle gouge. If not why? 2nd after you let it dry couldn't you put it back on theathe to sand and once finished then remove the tenon. 3rd what type of other tool would be effective to hollow out the inside, as i have no hollowing tools, is there one or 2 that i could possibly make say from old files that i have or even a piece of reo-bar that i could shape. Any help will be greatly appreciated and awesome. Thank you for sharing, showing and spending your time to help out others, thank you for your valuable time, and repeating the cycle of passing on information, time and experience. Cheers and G'day from Matt, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia 🇦🇺 🇦🇺😎😎👋👋🙃🙃🤠
Its not recommended to use a spindle gouge when your turning something cross grain. Face grain and end grain cut different and most spindle gouges are not built for it. Depending on how dry the piece of wood is you might be able to return to the lathe to sand. The piece i used was pretty wet and warped as it dried so sanding on the lathe would not have worked. You can use a small bowl gouge to hollow it out. It just takes a little more time and practice. Thanks for taking the time to watch.
@@BlackLabelwoodworks thank you for taking your valuable time to pass on information, it is greatly appreciated and absorbed into my filling system, thanks and have an absolutely banger of a weekend 😊 🙃🙃🙃😎😎😎👋👋👋🇦🇺
I wouldn't use an old file for a turning tool unless it's been annealed. Files are extremely hard but brittle as glass, if you have a bad catch they can shatter, potentially showering shards everywhere at high speed. A turning tool is softer and more resilient, they won't break. IF you know how to anneal the file then it could make an okay tool but modern HSS purpose made turning tools are a better solution.
@@rockranger3037 apologies forgot to ask, bloody brain injury they suck, is they anything i could use to make some till I'm able to buy any chisels as a disability Pensioner no money saving takes a long time, the files I used were freebies from places. Thanks Matt 🇦🇺
@@DeathMetalMusic-SavedMeI’ve seen some old timers use old files that have been reshaped as scrapers, but that’s about it. Like Rockranger said, they’re usually hard and brittle. Even if you were to shape them into scrapers, they’re not meant for hallowing or waste removal and I definitely wouldn’t let it wander from the tool rest too much or you really risk it snapping and coming back at you. No more than an inch overhang. As stated previously, don’t use spindle tools for bowl work. Spindle tools don’t have the strength for that and I’ve seen a couple of them get bad catches and just snap. Luckily, I’ve never seen one come back at someone, but at the very least it’s a waste of a perfectly good tool. The two exceptions I see a lot of the time are people using spindle tools for the straightening of tenons on the outside of bowls and the outside of bowl turning when you’re making an end grain bowl. Just the outside, though. Don’t attempt to turn the inside with a spindle gouge. If you are going to attempt bowl turning with a spindle gauge, keep a few things in mind when using them: - Keep the flute closed or mostly closed. Since spindle gauges are shallower, they’re at their weakest when the flute is wide open or sticking straight up on the tool rest. - ride the bevel. You’re probably at your safest when you stick to riding just the bevel with your cuts. - keep the spindle gauge close to the tool rest. Don’t let a spindle gauge get too much overhang, especially when wide open with the flute. - keep them sharp and use light passes. A good alternative to gouges, are carbide cutting tools. They’re extremely friendly to beginners and you don’t really have to worry about sharpening. The round cutting heads are usually the ones used in bowl turning, but the square and diamond shaped ones are good for forming tenons.
How long do you dry the piece for? Do you use a microwave?
I prefer let wood just air dry after turning. It took 2 weeks to dry one week in a paper bag and one week out of the bag.
What rotary tool/head are you using?
The rotary tool is the Foredom flex shaft power carver. The burr i used is a 3/4 inch kutzall ball nose extreme. I added links to the description.
how to seal the bark and keep it on the pcs
The bark was holding on so just the oil. If you want to you can use a little thin CA glue where the bark meets the wood to help hold it on.
I’m confused- you already had a barrel form . Why mount and turn it by crosswise?
to get a live edge rim profile that had 2 dips and high spots. It gets the name birds mouth because it looks like a baby bird at feeding time.
@@BlackLabelwoodworks ah- I see. Thank you.
I would leave the tenon
You could leave the tenon but if the wood warps when it dries you would still need to hand sand. If you return it to the lathe you would only be able to sand the bowl part the wings would need to be hand sanded.
Well it was interesting but you mentioned the type of boring tool that you like to use but you didn't show it to your viewers not did you explain why you preferred that type of tool. These would of been good information for the new woodworker.
Hollowing tools with a hook make it easier to hollow out turnings that have an opening narrower then the rest of the body. This is the link to the hollowing tools i use. www.johnjordanwoodturning.com/small-hollowing-tools.html In this video i used the 3/8" hook tool the straight tool can be used for bottoms but is not needed with technique the hook tool can do the same thing. I just made a wood handle for this one but all my other larger ones go into a hollowing system. The cutting bits for these bars are high speed steel so they can be sharpened and narrow so they are easier to control.
Why don’t you show us beginners what tool you used at the last hollowing.
Thanks for the interest. I will look on doing a video on my hollowing tools.
I'll never get that 15 minutes back
Then why did you stay for 15mins?
@@craigcook1571 I'm an optimis
Ass
You might want to watch some other videos on how to sand and finish on the lathe and how to remove the tenon on the lathe as well. You really can do that.
@@JLang-bn3hs I think I have forgotten more than you know