Brick and Mortar Bowl

Ever since I purchased my lathe I wanted to make bowls. I made a sled for segmented bowls a few months back and wanted to experiment with different patterns and wood. I love the look of paduke and walnut and decided on this brick and mortar pattern.

Most of the math and sled preparations are ignored in this instructable. If you want to see all that math and more, take a look at my Simple Sled for Perfect Segmented Bowls instructable.

Tools

• Lathe
• Hand Sander
• Bowl Sanding Tool
• Table Saw
• Sled for Segmented Bowls
• Disc Sander
• Turners Tape

Materials:

• Contrasting Hardwoods (I used Paduke and Walnut)
• Shellac and Brush
• Glue

Create your rings for your desired diameter. I wrote a very detailed instructable on how to use this sled for segmented bowls. The difference between that instructable and these rings is that these rings will have "mortar" segments made of walnut dividing each segment. I have uploaded a excel file that I use for planning bowls. Feel free to download and tinker with my formulas to suit your needs.

Once all of your segments and dividers are cut, sand each segment and verify that it fits as it should by holding them together with rubber bands.

Using either the rubber band or hose clamp method outlined here, glue rings together.

Using a disc sander, sand the face of each ring flat. This will make the whole bowl glue up perfectly.

Using a solid piece of wood, turn it round and cut a recess in it to be accepted in the Nova Chuck. The recess shown here is not deep enough and will prove to be catastrophic later on. Be sure that your recess is as deep as the jaws of your chuck.

Attach the bottom ring to a waste block using turners tape. Turn the inside of the ring round. Turn the bottom solid wood portion down until it fits inside the ring. Glue the two together. Once dry, attach the bottom to the same waste block to finish the bottom. Turn the bottom around and mount in the Nova Chuck to ensure that it's round and flat.

This simple jig is very helpful with these types of glue-ups. I actually found something similar made by Frank Howarth after I finished mine. There are a lot of great points that he has that could make mine better. This jig has a base of melamine to keep the glue from sticking with a length of all thread through the center to clamp even pressure across the segmented bowl.

I made a 12 x 12 inch square with two layers to provide added stiffness. Both layers of melamine and MDF were scraps I had around the garage which is why they are pieced together. Screw both layers together, locate and drill a hole the size of your threaded rod in the middle. My threaded rod measures 1/2 in. in diameter. Bolt from the top and bottom using washers to spread out the pressure. Add feet to the bottom for the clearance of the protruding threaded rod out of the bottom.

Not shown in this step is a larger handle I made for the nut. This allows for greater torque to be applied to the jig. However, a simple nut and wrench will work just as well.

Starting at the top of the bowl (top down) glue two or three rings at a time. Since this pattern requires as much precision as possible, gluing only a few rings at a time help with lining everything up.

Alternate the rings to form the classic brick look. After each ring is glued in place, slide a board that's larger than the bowl and apply pressure with the bolt. Repeat this process until that remains is the final solid board.

Using adequate f clamps, glue the bottom of the bowl in place ensuring that everything is lined up as before.

Mount the bowl in the lathe and turn the outside of the bowl. Support the bowl with a scrap piece of wood on the tailstock. Once the outside looks as you like, remove the tailstock and start on the inside.

This is where my bowl broke off the lathe. I'm sure that more experienced woodturners can tell me where I went wrong other than my recess not being deep enough. If you can give me some insight on how I can prevent this from happening in the future I would love to hear it!

Unfortunately at this point I was certain that I just formed a very expensive piece of firewood. Because of this I didn't take any pictures of the broken bowl. What I did to resolve the problem is I glued the top of the bowl to a scrap piece of wood. This allowed me to carefully turn the bottom of the bowl out and create a replacement with a deeper recess. The thin piece of MDF shown is to help with lining up the bottom when gluing it in place. Once dry, the MDF was turned off and the bowl was finished as it should have been before.

Once the outside and inside of the bowl are shaped to your liking, sand the entire bowl. I recently purchased this sander and it works amazingly well.

Remove the bowl from the lathe and sand the bottom to your liking. I mounted the bowl back in the lathe to apply a clear shellac finish to the outside and inside.

What scary lathe experiences do you have? I would love to hear them so I don't repeat them!