Bowl from a board

By Lennart Delin
Updated September 2019

This is a short description of making a bowl from a board. You need just a thin board and
the wood is maximally utilized. You start with a board and cut out rings on the lathe
which you glue together. Observe that the annual rings should ideally be arranged so
that the transition between the rings is as smooth possible when they are stacked, so
that you get an even pattern. This bowl is made in zebrawood, with somewhat extreme
pattern.

Start with a board somewhat larger than the finished bowl. Cut out a round disc on the
bandsaw. The thickness of the disc determines the angle you can have on the rings.
When you cut out the rings you must adjust the angle so that you have enough overlap
with the ring thickness you want, when you glue the rings together.

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 a
inside lower ring

alfa

inside upper ring

If you cut all the rings with the same angle you get a cone shaped bowl, which is
definitely not what I want. I usually start with as steep angle as possible for the first ring
and then lower the angle, so I get an approximately parabolic shape, which I like the
best. The table below shows the maximum angle and minimum ring thickness for some
different data. I always cut the rings on the lathe. This gives perfectly round rings and no
need to split them as with bandsaw cut rings.
Calculating maximum angles of segment rings from board thickness
Ring thickness mm 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
Width cutter mm 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Ring thickness + cutter width mm 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5
Board thickness h mm 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0
Max angle alfa ° 34 51 60 65
Ring distance a mm 22.6 16.0 14.4 13.8

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I start by sketching the bowl from board thickness and outside diameter. The lines here
are the inside of the bowl. The sketch then directly gives both the position and angle of
the cuts.

All the cuts marked out. I secure the board against a faceplate with a particle board disc
with the tailstock. The friction is enough for driving and if the cutter grabs, the board
stops without harm. With thick boards the cutter easily grabs even with a clearance grind
on the cutter.

First ring cut

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All the rings cut, the centre will be the bottom of the bowl. The cutter is a parting tool
with a special clearance grind.

The rings are glued together. The faceplate with the particle board disk is used to get an
even pressure on the rings.

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The rings glued together and ready for forming the bowl.

Apart from the tailstock pressure, the bowl is secured with melt glue around the rim. This
also enables you to remove the tailstock and finish turn the foot, which is used to grip
the bowl when the inside is turned. The outside is finish turned and sanded

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The foot which is used for gripping, when turning the inside is clearly visible here. A
height of about 3 mm is enough for a secure grip.

Now it is time for the inside to be turned.

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The bowl gripped by the foot, protruding about 3 mm. This is quite enough! Notice there
is a nice catenary or parabolic shape.

The bowl is finish turned in steps of about 30 mm, to maintain maximum stiffness and
minimise vibrations.

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Now only the bottom part remains to be turned.

Finished bowl after oiling. The zebrawood figuring makes the transition between the rings
almost invisible.

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Segmented bowl

In the example above I have started with a board. If you want to, you can glue segments
together to make a board. In this example I have used Norway maple and walnut.

Two boards 105x20x270 mm

Sled with a jig to cut segments to the right angle. In this case with eight segments, the
angle is 22.5°

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Cutting the segments.

To make certain that the gluing surfaces are absolute flat I use a mitre trimmer for the
gluing edges.

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Segments arranged to check the fit.

You can glue all the segments together in one go with a band clamp, but I want a
minimal glue line and the force is limited, so I usually glue the segments by rubbing
them together.

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I then sand the two halves absolutely straight and glue them together The rings that I
will cut out are marked here.

The rings are cut out in the same way as from the board.

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The rings are glued together.

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The bowl turned and sanded as before. Finished size 215x85 mm

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Seen in profile. It does not have to be conical.

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