Turning is only one way to make a wooden bowl in your shop, here the author displays a bowl that she made by cutting out segments on a scroll saw.
Laminated bowls are usually round, lathe-turned and made from large blanks. This rectangular bowl, with colorful stripes, is made on a scroll saw from a blank that is only 3/4″ thick. The wood is cut into rings at a steep angle. When stacked and glued, the rings create the illusion that the bowl was made from a single, heavy blank. I flared the upper rim for a more fluid profile and softened the corners for ease in shaping and sanding. The technique, from start to finish, is simpler than it seems, and it provides a wonderful way to make a wide variety of attractive bowls at minimal cost.
Cutting the Rings
Rather than turned out of one piece, the finished bowl will be made by gluing up and sanding several different layers of wood rings.
Start by gluing up the strips of wood in the following order: walnut, padauk, maple, padauk and walnut. Once the glue-up is dry, sand it just until smooth and then draw a line down the center of the maple strip.
Mark the center of the blank, after gluing up the wood pieces so you will know where the cuts will be made.
Attach the pattern with re-positionable adhesive, aligning the center of the pattern with the line on your wood. Designate one face of the blank as the “top” and label each ring as you cut it so you can reassemble the rings properly as you glue them up.
Find a 35 degree angle and start making your first cut for the first ring of the bowl with a #9 saw blade.
To cut the first ring, I tilted the saw table to a 35° angle, left side down. Using a #9 saw blade, I cut along the outer line of the pattern in a clockwise direction, which means I fed the wood in a counterclockwise direction.
For the Bowl diagram and materials list, click here to download the PDF
Cutting the Rings of the Bowl
Start drilling holes where you will make the first cuts, angling them toward the center line of the blank.
Next, I used an awl to mark the entry hole where shown on the pattern, and I drilled the hole at a 25° angle using a #54 drill bit, a 25° angle guide and a rotary tool. The hole must be drilled toward the center of the blank or the wood will not sit flat on the saw table.
To ease your cuts, make cutting guides for the angles that you will drill and cut, marking them so you know what angles each guide is.
To complete the first ring, I tilted the saw table to 25°, left side down, inserted the saw blade into the entry hole, and cut clockwise on the inner line. Using different cutting angles created the outward flare and reduced the ring width to 3/8″— an ideal thickness for bowls of this type.
Follow the cut line closely for the rings, as you will need to match up the angles exactly before glue up and sanding.
After cutting the ring, I removed the pattern and placed the cut ring on the blank, aligning the stripes and tops. Holding the ring in place, I traced around its inner edge on the blank to create the cutting line for the second ring.
Stagger the holes you are drilling out along the cut line so you don’t remove too much wood from one area through this process.
I drilled the next entry hole at 28°, facing the center of the blank, on a straight section of the line I just drew, tilted the saw table to 28°, left side down, and cut out the second ring in a clockwise direction.
Cutting out the second ring is very similar to the first, using a #9 blade and cutting the blank through counterclockwise.
I placed the second ring on the blank, aligning the tops, and traced the inner edge, to create the cutting line for the third ring.
To smoothen out the cutting, a little tape along the cut line will help protect the piece and lubricate the blade, preventing too much burning on the cutline.
The third ring was cut at a 28° angle, the same way as the second. The remaining piece — the base — was set aside until later.
