1st Plate Bowl on New Powermatic 3520C Lathe
The first thing I turned on my new Powermatic 3520C Lathe is what I call a
plate bowl. A plate with a little bowl in the center. I like to turn this
shape and then use it as a canvas that I can decorate.
Here is the finished plate bowl.
10" diameter. 1-1/2" tall. Maple wood. Lathe and hand
carved rings and grooves. Red stain. Gold acrylic paint. Acrylic lacquer finish.
Turning this on my new Powermatic 3520C was as “easy as pie”. No
mounting problems. No vibration problems, etc. This piece is small and
easy. Thus, I was not expecting any problems.
Note: I am teaching a plate class at the
Brookfield Craft Center
on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6, 2018. We will be making similar plates or plate
bowls in that class.
Here is what my new lathe looks like.
For more info see
"My New Powermatic 3530C Lathe Verses My Old Powermatic 3520B" blog entry.
Here is the blank mounted on a screw in my chuck. The
blank is a chunk of hard maple wood. Roughly 2" thick by 10-1/2"
in diameter.
I just cut the corners off on the band saw. I made absolutely no
attempt to make the blank round on the band saw. I have a lathe for making
things round!
Here I am getting ready to true up the face of the blank.
You can see here why I do not like the stock Powermatic banjo with
its offset tool post design. I have to crank the quill in the tailstock way
out to get the offset Powermatic banjo in there. The quill is way to far
out for safety in my opinion.
This is why I strongly prefer the NON offset design of
Oneway banjos. For more info see
Oneway Banjo
section of "My New Powermatic 3530C Lathe
Verses My Old Powermatic 3520B" blog entry.
Here I roughed out the bottom of the plate bowl. I am ready to turn the
blank around and work on the front.
First I turned the outside round and slightly down hill from the
top. The top is on the headstock side. Then, I turned a tenon on the bottom
that matches my Oneway Stronghold Chuck. I left the rest of the blank
pretty thick so I can cut grooves on the other side. If I made the plate wall
thin now, then it would flex to much, when I tried to cut the grooves.
Hind site is always 20/20. I wish I took more photos. I forgot to take some
photos of top side trued up. Then another photo of me cutting the bowl.
In this photo, I am getting ready to paint the gold rings. Painting
between well defined lines is easy with the lathe running. Thus, I first
cut some shallow coves to hold the gold paint and then some V grooves on
either side to create well defined lines.
At this point I have NOT thinned out the plate. The bottom is still
thick, like in previous photo. I am going to thin it out latter, at the
very end.
Power Carve the Radial Grooves
I removed the CHUCK from the lathe. I left the piece in the chuck! Latter, I want to be able to remount
the piece and still have it run true.
I laid out the radial lines with a pencil. Then I carved the lines with a V chisel in my Ryobi power carver.
After carving, I removed any left over pencil lines and eased over any hard edges with a 3M radial bristle disk.
For more info see my
"Power Carving Textures" blog entry.
Unfortunately, from this point on I forgot to take step by step photos.
Stain It Red
I stained the entire top and sides with red alcohol based stain. I forced the stain into all of the rings and grooves.
I let the stain dry for a while. Or, did I let it dry over night? I really don’t remember.
Paint the Gold Rings
After the stain dried. I put the chuck with the piece still mounted in it, back on the lathe. I painted the gold rings that I turned in with gold acrylic paint. With the lathe running slowly. With a 1/4″ round paint brush. I wanted the red stain to show thru the paint a bit, but not to much. Thus I adjusted the thickness / thinness of the paint with some air brush medium.
I then removed the chuck again from lathe.
After the gold paint dried I sealed the entire top surface with a couple of coats of rattle can lacquer.
Paint the Gold Grooves
After sealing, I painted the grooves that I carved in with gold acrylic paint. I used a 1/4″ round paint brush. This was not easy. I had to dork around a lot. Wipe it off some. Paint some on, again. Until I ended up with the paint, just in the groves, with some red showing thru.
I sealed the entire top surface again, after the paint dried, with a couple of coats of rattle can lacquer.
Here is what the piece looked like when I mounted the chuck back on the lathe. I turned the lathe on and used some synthetic steel wool to remove any dust in the lacquer and buffed it with a soft cloth.
I turned the piece around and mounted it on a vacuum chuck. So I could
finish the bottom. I thinned out the bottom to match the top. Then I
stained it, sealed it, etc.
Here is what the finished bottom looks like. The picture was taken at a
slight angle so you can see some of the details.
I really wish I had remembered to take a lot more photos for my
blog!