This is a four sided dropped wing bowl. Instead of “cutting off the parts that don’t look like a bowl,” the corners of the turning blank are left on, these corners will serve as the feet.

VERY IMPORTANT – material has to be square with the sides and ends sanded.

If the bowl blank is not square the sides and corners will not match.

 

Method

1 – Find the center of the block and mark it, (this will be the top of the bowl)
again getting the center mark is crucial.

2 – Drill a 5/16″ hole to the marked depth this will be the inside bottom of the bowl

3 – Insert woodworm screw

4 – Mount the block on the lathe (woodworm in the chuck)
at this point I bring the tail stock up to the blank and mark a divot, then check that this mark is dead center, if not, I trim the blank to get exact center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 – Turn a tenon (sized for chuck) (mark the new center with tail stock) this mark will be used to help center on jamb chuck when the tenon is removed

6 – Cut out waste area between outside of bowl and corners, make sure very little wood is removed from the bottom corners as these will be the footing for bowl.

You need to be very careful to avoid getting your hands in the way of the spinning corners. They appear as ghosts and are best seen with a dark background and overhead light, or with a back light. I seem to get a cleaner cut when using high speed to cut the wings.

7 – Reverse blank and mount in chuck

8 – Round the top of corners

9 – Hollow the interior of the bowl, mark the depth of bowl on the exterior (helpful when removing the tenon

10 – Block sank sand the top, sand holding the paper so if a corner catches the edge  of the sandpaper it will be pulled away from you

Jam Chuck

– Make a tenon to mount in chuck

– Cut profile of the turned bowl, test fit

– Mount square bowl on jam chuck and secure with tail stock using center marking

– Turn down the tenon so the legs are lower than the bottom of bowl

– Shape bottom.

For safety reasons, if you have never turned a square bowl its best to keep the size of the blank 6″ x 2″ or smaller, this will decrease the chance of your fingers getting nipped by the ‘ghost’ corners. I got my idea from Larry Marley, who has a 9 minute video, which should be viewed prior to you turning a Square Bowl