Furlong, Pennsylvania

Good wood is closer than you think.

This is a shop journal. It covers turning large bowls, making cutting boards from trees that grew within driving distance, and building the things a small shop needs and cannot buy. Everything made here is meant for food, and most of what is here was learned by doing it wrong first.

Written by Jeff Pollock, with a dog named Lilah asleep under the bench.

A hand on the outside of a spalted ambrosia maple bowl taking shape on the Oneway lathe

Three threads

What the shop makes, and what it has learned

Four nested rough bowls cored from a single maple blank

Woodturning

Large bowls, mostly. Blanks are cored with a Oneway Easy-Core so one log yields a nest of bowls instead of a pile of shavings. Every bowl is turned twice: rough, dry, finish.

How the bowls get made →

Inside of a finished cherry bowl showing the figure

Cutting Boards and Tableware

End-grain and edge-grain boards in cherry, maple, walnut, and oak, from logs and firewood that grew nearby. No kiln. Time does the drying, and the boards are built to last years.

Boards from local wood →

Gouges laid on the lathe with a rough bowl holding ground chips for filler

Shop Builds and Spindle Work

Walking sticks, pool cues, a wooden mallet, tool racks, a wine rack, a chessboard, and the jigs that make the lathe safer. Plans are drawn full size, with the measurements you need to take before you cut.

Plans and projects →

Woodturning

Big bowls, turned twice

A large bowl is a small bowl with more ways to go wrong. The scale is the point. The method is the old one: rough-turn the bowl green, let it dry slowly, then turn it again. The tools are Carter & Son gouges, each in its own aluminum handle; the M42 steel holds an edge through wet, gritty wood longer than anything else tried here, and a handle you can change is a handle you can lengthen when the bowl gets deep.

Core first

A blank that would make one bowl and a bag of shavings makes three or four bowls when it is cored. The Easy-Core cuts a curved kerf that follows the inside of the outer bowl and frees a smaller blank from inside it. Carbide cutters on the coring knife hold up better in wet wood than anything else tried here. For some projects the blanks come already cored and dried from A Cut Above, Gary DeHart and his son, who take on the risk of drying so the turner does not have to.

Take out the pith

Many good bowls have been lost in this shop to one habit: leaving the pith in. The center of the tree shrinks differently from everything around it, and the crack it starts does not stop. Cut it out at the chainsaw before the blank ever sees the lathe.

Dry slowly, by weight

Rough-turned bowls go into shavings or a sealed bag so the outside cannot outrun the inside. Each one is weighed and marked, then weighed again each month. When the weight stops falling, the bowl is dry. Moisture meters are a second opinion, not a first.

Finish for the table

Every bowl here is made to be eaten from, so nothing goes on it that you would not want on the salad. They are sanded to 400 grit, sometimes 800, and finished with a food-grade oil or a wax made in the shop. See the note on wax below.

One bowl, start to finish

A chainsawn walnut blank with a faceplate screwed to the top — **1. Faceplate on.** A heavy green blank starts on a faceplate, never a screw center. Corners knocked off at the bandsaw so it runs closer to true.

An octagonal spalted maple blank mounted between centers on the Oneway 2436 — **2. Between centers, slow.** Tailstock up, speed down, and a hand on the blank before the switch to feel how far out of balance it is.

The outside of the bowl half cut, chainsaw facets giving way to the turned curve — **3. The outside first.** Chainsaw facets give way to the curve. This is where the bowl's shape is decided.

The flat bottom of the blank with the tool rest and live center — **4. True the face, cut the tenon.** A flat face, then a tenon sized to the Stronghold jaws, so the bowl can be turned around.

The Easy-Core knife entering the blank — **5. Core it.** The curved knife follows the inside of the bowl and frees a smaller blank from the middle. Shavings in ribbons mean the cutter is sharp.

Four nested rough bowls from one maple blank — **6. The nest.** One blank, four bowls, all wet. Walls left thick so they can move while they dry.

Hollowing the inside of a large bowl with a bowl gouge — **7. Second turning, months later.** Dry and oval, the bowl is trued and hollowed to its final wall with a long-handled Carter gouge.

A finished walnut bowl, oiled, showing deep figure — **8. Oil and wax.** Sanded to 400, finished with food-grade oil and shop wax. The figure that was hiding under the chainsaw marks.

How a log becomes bowls. The pith slab comes out at the saw; each half yields an outer bowl and, with coring, one or more smaller bowls from inside it.

The Wood

From the curb to the lathe

Most of the wood here arrives as a tree someone else did not want. A storm takes it down, a tree service drops it, or it turns up in a firewood pile. A day with a chainsaw in the driveway turns it into blanks, and the rest is patience.

A pile of fresh-cut blanks in the driveway — **One tree, one afternoon.** Rounds crosscut to length, then split through the pith into blanks. The driveway will sweep.

Large blanks stacked by the garage door with a hand truck — **Big enough to need the hand truck.** The largest blanks here are close to 30 inches across, which is what the big lathe is for.

Tape measure across a 30 inch slab — **Thirty inches.** Measured before cutting so the blank fits the swing with room to true it.

A squared blank with its end grain sealed in wax — **Sealed in wax.** End grain coated so it dries no faster than the rest. The one step that saves more blanks than any other.

A spalted maple blank with a circle scribed on the face — **Scribe the circle.** The biggest circle the blank will give, drawn with a compass before the bandsaw.

The same blank cut to an octagon — **Then the octagon.** Eight corners off at the bandsaw and the blank is close enough to round to start safely.

A half log on the bench, split through the pith — **Split through the pith.** Half a log on the bench. The pith side goes down; the bark side becomes the rim.

Logs and split blanks stacked under the deck on a tarp — **The waiting room.** Logs under the deck, out of the sun, on a tarp. Some have been here two years.

Logs and half rounds stacked under a timber pavilion — **Under the pavilion.** Big rounds and halves, bark on, ends checking. They are cut back to sound wood when their turn comes.

Cutting Boards

Within driving distance

There is nothing wrong with a well-tooled shop and a stack of kiln-dried exotics. But there is a long and honest tradition of fine work made from the trees nearby, and most people live closer to a fallen cherry than they think. The boards here come from logs, yard trees, and firewood piles in Bucks County, given a year or two to settle before they are cut.

Four species, all local. Cherry darkens to a deep red and takes knife marks gracefully. Hard maple is the classic for end grain and stays pale. Walnut is the handsomest and the softest of the four. White oak is tough and open-grained and wants a tight glue-up. All four are safe for food and all four grow in this county.
No kiln, so patience. Boards are rough-milled oversize, stickered, and left until they stop moving. Then they are milled again. The second milling is where flat comes from; the first only gets close.
End grain for the knife, edge grain for the eye. An end-grain board is kinder to an edge and heals its own cuts. An edge-grain board shows the figure of the wood and is simpler to make. Both are built here, and the choice usually follows the wood.
Built to last. Waterproof glue, grain oriented so the board moves as one piece, generous thickness, and a finish of food-grade oil and wax that the owner can renew at the kitchen sink.

The Shop

Three lathes and the things made on them

The turning room: Oneway 2436 in the foreground, VB36 beyond, grinders at right — **The turning room.** Oneway in front, VB36 behind it, two grinders within reach, and a floor that is never clean for long.

The flatwork side of the shop with dust collection ducts overhead — **The flatwork side.** Table saw, jointer, planer, and a dust system plumbed in steel overhead.

Bandsaw, grinders, and a rack of long-handled gouges — **Bandsaw and grinders.** The gouges live in the foreground, long handles for the big bowls.

A wall of bar clamps above a workbench — **The clamp wall.** You never have enough, and then you have too many.

The VB36 with a large bowl mounted, seen across the shop — **VB36 with a bowl on.** Nothing between the turner and the work.

Vacuum pump, gauge and bleed valve plumbed to the back of the Oneway headstock — **Vacuum chuck plumbing.** Gauge and bleed valve at eye level, pump below, line into the hollow spindle.

The rotary vacuum adapter held up to the outboard end of the Oneway spindle — **The rotary adapter.** It threads onto the outboard spindle and lets the vacuum line stand still while the lathe turns.

Lilah lying in a pile of shavings on the shop floor — **Supervision.** Lilah in the shavings, where the shavings are warmest.

Each lathe has a job. The Oneway does the heavy bowls; the VB36 is a bowl lathe with nothing in the way; the Coronet handles spindle work and small pieces. The flatwork side has a jointer, a 20-inch planer, a 25-inch drum sander, a table saw, bandsaw, and a Domino.

Oneway 2436

Twenty-four inches of swing, an extended bed, and a tailstock heavy enough to hold a wet 100-pound blank steady. This is where the big bowls start and where the coring happens.

The VB36 bowl lathe with a large cherry bowl mounted, grinders at left

VB36 Master Bowlturner

A short-bed bowl lathe built around a massive headstock. With no bed in the way, a deep bowl can be hollowed from the front with the gouge where the arm wants it.

Photo to come:
the Record Coronet CL3

Record Coronet CL3

The small lathe, and the one spindle work lives on: walking sticks, pool cues, mallet handles, and the odd finial. It is also where most of the book's beginner projects are photographed.

Spindle work and shop builds

Spindle work

Walking sticks

Turned on the lathe with a shaped head, a hardwood foot, and a take-apart joint in the middle so the stick travels in a suitcase. A chapter in the book covers the joint and the finishes.

In the book

Spindle work

Pool cues

Long, straight, and unforgiving of a dull tool. A cue teaches steady-rest work and the patience to take the last pass slowly.

In the shop

Spindle work

A wooden mallet

The first project in the book, because a mallet is forgiving to make and useful the same afternoon. A dense head, a handle that fits the hand, and a wedge to lock them together.

In the book

Lathe accessory

Swing-arm tool rack for the Oneway 2436

Eleven handled gouges hang at the tailstock end, steel down, on an arm that pivots clear of the bed. One knob, one pin, four indexed positions.

Plans drawn, Rev. C

Lathe accessory

Magnetic sanding-disc rack

A 12-inch rack for 2- and 3-inch discs that sits on the lathe bed where the hand already is. Nothing to open, nothing to drop.

In use

Furniture and games

Wine rack and chessboard

A cherry and walnut wine rack that holds bottles by the neck and shoulder, and a maple and walnut chessboard with a cherry border, cut from quartersawn stock so it stays flat.

Plans drawn

Kitchen

Pizza boards and a pasta board

Matched cherry and walnut pizza boards for a friend who makes dough on Fridays, and an Italian spianatoia with a lip that hooks the counter edge.

In the shop

Lathe accessory

Shop-built vacuum chuck

A rotary adapter through the Oneway's hollow spindle, a gauge and bleed valve on the wall, and a pump on the shelf. It holds a finished bowl by its rim so the foot can be turned away clean, with no tenon and no marks.

In use

Coring

The Easy-Core knife set

Four curved knives, marked by radius, and the support fingers that ride them. Carbide tips, kept sharp, are what make coring wet walnut feel easy.

In use

Shop habit

Chips in a coffee grinder

Keep a bag of shavings from each species. Grind a handful in a cheap coffee grinder and you have filler that matches the wood instead of fighting it.

Tip

Shop Notes

Things learned the hard way

Safety is not optional at the lathe

A face shield, every time the lathe is running. A big green blank sheds bark and sometimes more.
Sanding dust is a real hazard. Collect it at the source and wear a respirator when the sandpaper comes out.
Light is a safety tool. A lamp on an arm at the lathe shows the cut, the crack, and the catch before they find you.
Gloves and an apron are a good idea in the shop, and a bad idea at a spinning lathe.

Holding the work

Screw centers do more than people expect, but a large heavy blank starts on a faceplate. No exceptions.
Start slow. A blank that was balanced yesterday may not be today; the wood is still moving.
Recheck the hold periodically. Green wood shrinks away from the jaws while you work.
Green core, first turning: a tenon. Dry bowl with a wide base: a mortise will do. The article below explains why.

Make your own wax

Store-bought board butter is beeswax and mineral oil at a markup. The shop version is one part beeswax to four parts food-grade mineral oil by volume, melted together in a jar set in a pan of hot water, never over a flame. Pour it into tins and let it set. For a harder, glossier finish on a bowl, swap a quarter of the beeswax for carnauba, which melts hotter and sets harder. Rub it on warm, let it sit, buff it off. Because everything made here goes to the table, the ingredients are the same ones you would put in a pie: wax from bees, oil from the pharmacy shelf, nothing else.

The Oneway 2436 with a face shield resting on the bed among the gouges — The face shield lives on the lathe bed, where it cannot be forgotten.

A deep pile of wet walnut shavings on the floor beside the lathe — An afternoon of roughing. The shavings go back over the bowls to slow the drying.

Breaking down big wood

A 150-pound cherry burl does not go on a lathe in one piece. Cut out the pith, round the edges so the chainsaw has less to grab, then seal the end grain or bag it in plastic so it dries slowly. An electric chainsaw or a reciprocating saw is handier than a gas saw for trimming in the shop. Longer gouges help on big bowls; the extra length is leverage you will want.

Finished Work

Off the lathe and onto the table

Jeff holding a large cherry bowl — **Cherry, 18 inches.** From a tree that came down two streets over.

Close view of ambrosia beetle streaks in spalted maple on the lathe — **Ambrosia maple, on the lathe.** The dark streaks are the beetle's trail; the grey is the fungus that follows it. Nothing you can plan, only find.

Inside of a large walnut bowl with feathered figure — **Walnut, second turning.** Crotch figure in the bottom, waiting for oil.

A shallow cherry bowl on the lathe bed — **Cherry, shallow.** A serving bowl with a small foot.

Walnut, spalted maple, and cherry bowls together — **Walnut, spalted maple, cherry.** Three local trees.

A large walnut bowl on the bench, outside view — **Walnut, straight-sided.** Dry, trued, and ready for the inside.

A stack of dried rough bowls in cherry, walnut and spalted maple on the bench — **Next winter's bowls.** Dry, and waiting for the second turning.

Writing

Articles and a book

The book is a set of lathe projects in order of difficulty, from a mallet to a deep cored bowl, with the basics up front: choosing tools and keeping them sharp, setting up, and picking wood that will not crack. It ends with finishes, fixing problems, a chapter on glues and which ones are safe near food, and a chapter on off-center turning. It is being written as two companion volumes, a course book for schools and a shop book for hobbyists, and it draws on turners from Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia as well as this county.

Shorter pieces, with sources, are listed on the right. Some are finished, some are being prepared for submission.

Woodturning

Tenon or Mortise?

When to grip a cored bowl in compression and when in expansion, with sizing from the Oneway chuck manuals and the published guidance of working turners.

Finished

Woodturning

Experience Is a Hard Teacher

Lessons from bowls that cracked, flew, or failed. Being prepared for American Woodturner.

In preparation

Cutting boards

Within Driving Distance

Fine work from local wood, without a kiln and without apology. Being prepared for Fine Woodworking.

In preparation

Want a copy of an article or a set of plans?

Ask. Finished pieces are shared as PDF or Word files, and the plans come with the measurement checklist so they fit your lathe, not mine.

sleepydog@your-domain

About

The shop and the dog

Sleepy Dog Bowl Turning and Wood Working is a one-person shop in Furlong, Pennsylvania. The name belongs to Lilah, a goldendoodle who keeps the turner company, supervises from a safe distance, and sleeps through the loud parts. She has never once dropped a bowl.

The wood is walnut, cherry, maple, and oak from a reliable local source, plus whatever the storms bring down. Everything made here is food-safe: the bowls are for the table, the boards are for the knife, and the finishes are oil and wax you could eat. The plans are free to anyone who asks.

One of the best things about turning is the company. Nearly everything here was learned from turners who put their work on YouTube, write it up in the journals, or stand at a club lathe and show a stranger how they do it. Unlike many crafts, this is a community that shares freely and takes real pleasure in watching someone else get good. This site tries to return the favor, and to name its sources.

Lilah lying in the shavings on the shop floor — Lilah, head of security, at her post.

Personnel file

Lilah, Head of Security, Sleeping on the Job

Employee of the month, every month

Lilah joined Sleepy Dog Bowl Turning and Wood Working as Head of Security and has held the post without interruption since. Her duties include guarding the shop, supervising the lathe from a safe distance, and inspecting any bowl that smells like it once held food. The record below shows how she spends the rest of her shift.

The shop was named for her. It was not named for her work ethic.