Bouncing Bowls and Other Catastrophes

Oh my, it's been a while.
Family, commitments, school holidays and babysitting, roadtrips ......... did I mention family .......
Life - what happens while we are making other plans .............
Anyhoo, here we are again with another warts and all woodie adventure.

Almost all of my woodwork has involved a minimum of woodturning, and almost all of that has been spindle work.

Time to try my hand at bowl making.

A lump of firewood looked promising - dull and grey though it was, it held hints of potential grain surprise.

Round out on the bandsaw.

Drill a hole in the face to house the chuck.

Mount on lathe and gently round out before forming the back of the bowl.

I turned a foot on the base to support the chuck when it was reversed

 

I decided to finish the outside of the bowl now as it would not be possible later.  So a range of sandpaper grits down to 320 were used followed by the application of some friction wax and polish.

 

Take it off the chuck and reverse it to hollow out the inside.  What could be easier!
This bowl making is a breeze!
Here is the last picture of the masterpiece before IT happened ................

Yep, you guessed it.
Just as the hollowing was proceeding beautifully, the bowl gouge encountered a point where the irresistible force met the immovable object, and .................. the bowl disappeared over my left shoulder.

Taking shape nicely it was ........

Here is the point where the bowl impacted with the concrete floor ........

Here's what's left of the lovingly crafted foot and chuck support on the base ........

And here is the point where a bowl became a flying saucer .....

Not to worry.
I'll get back to the lathe when I find some time and re-mount the bowl to re-form the outside and the base.  All that lovely finishing will have to be repeated and the bowl profile will change.
Then it will be a more cautious wood turner that will attempt to complete the inside of the bowl once more.
That is coming up in part two ............