Joel's Blog

Gone Bowling

04/08/2026

I'm catching the wood turning bug. The biggest issue for me is developing automatic skills. When I cut up wood, I cut square by hand automatically: I don't have to think about it. When I'm turning I still have to think about it. But I am thinking far more automatically than I was even a month ago.

Above is a picture of my first bowl. It's the same bowl that I was working on last week - but finished. It's made out of cherry, and I think it's a little thicker in section than I would like, but I'm new and I didn't want to press my luck. Producing it took me about two and a half hours plus breaks on the treadle. I worked up a light sweat and a heavy heartbeat, and that was very good news. I saved a trip to the gym, which for me is a big part of the appeal of a treadle lathe. My knees are also in much better shape than they were a few months ago.

Learning to turn has been a wander at my own pace, up to learning curve. Technically this is not my first bowl; it's actually my fourth. And the picture below shows the progression. I was skimming YouTube for turning videos a few weeks ago and I came across this "Make a bowl out of a 2x4" video. There are actually a lot of these types of videos out there - this is a common, popular project that seemed easy enough. So I took a 2x4, cut off four inches of it, and away way I went. On the first one (back), I had real trouble cutting the foot to attach it to the chuck. On the second one (left), you can see there are huge chunks out. There's two reasons for that: pine is a rather brittle wood and if you hit something the wrong way you get cataclysmic problems. I did not know how to use my tools correctly at this point and I was using a 3/8" spindle gouge. For the third bowl (right), I reground the spindle gouge to a bowl gouge and that was a big improvement.

I have my quibbles with the finished bowl, but I can at least say it's a bowl-shaped object. If I were a better turner, a bowl or spindle gouge wouldn't have made much of a difference, and the pine would have been fine. For a beginner, these factors can pose real challenges. Last week when I ordered some wood, I also got a 2x6 cherry board to make some more bowls and I tried again.

Originally the bowl was just going to have a smooth outside, but then when I was turning the outside, I ended up having sort of a ghost of a beginning of a lip. I really liked it, so I made the lip a feature. The inside was as deep as I dared going. I'm pretty happy the way this came out even with some tear-out on the inside. My next bowl is on the lathe now (see last picture below)) made of the same material. I just finished rounding the square stock.

In related news: Most of the first round of pre-orders for the lathe have been shipped. We will be contacting the remaining first-rounders to arrange delivery very shortly. The second batch is probably two months down the road.

Join the conversation

04/08/2026 Troy Livingston

There are a lot of folks making wood turning videos. My two favorites:
Richard Raffan - Hands down the best for general wood turning.
Woodturner21 - The absolute best with a skew.

04/08/2026 Joe Maday

Joel...Have you been turning Dry wood?...using a manually powered lathe .."green" wood would be much easier to turn...big difference between the two...rough turn close to shape/size then dry in a paper bag..then do final turning for details and to make it round again.......yes lots on internet!
To Troy...I love Richard Raffan...spent the day with him in workshops/classes many years ago in Purchase NY.....Also David Ellsworth!

04/08/2026 Joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com

Yep, dry wood. It’s what I got. I’m not having a big problem with it at all. It turns like a dream. Wet wood might be easier, but since I don’t have a source, no point in getting excited about it. If a tree falls down in the street, in the future, I might give it a shot.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the blog's author and guests and in no way reflect the views of Tools for Working Wood.

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