I've been making bowls like crazy here lately. It's very rewarding and brings in some money as well. My neighbor and I are making bowls for the Eagle River Knife Company and decorative bowls that we sell on our own. The only problem is waiting for them to dry. We had to make a homemade kiln to speed up the process. Waiting several months per bowl just wasn't cutting it. Now we can dry a bowl in 2 days. The process starts by selecting the wood. Most of the bowls I turn are birch that I get for free.
Here's what the slab looks like before turning.
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Then the roughing begins. The wood is very easy to turn when wet, but to avoid warping and cracking I have to leave at least 10% of material on the bowl. This only takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
Roughed bowl ready for drying.
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After 2 days in the kiln the bowl is ready to be final turned and sanded. This can take over an hour, depending on how fancy the bowl will be.
Here's a typical bowl for Eagle River Knife Company.
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