Just when you thought my She Oak adventures had ended along comes Arbortech's fantastic Ball gouge!
Now I must admit carving wood is not something I excel in and my efforts with spoons and other utensils is proof of that, however I was on a roll and decided to keep trying. This time with three pieces of the She Oak log I recovered from a camping trip. I cut them all into about 100 mm or I think it would be 4"pieces. Now as I dont own a permanent woodworking vice I fashioned up bench one to suit.
To make the job easier and to indicate the required depth I drilled a series of holes to remove the bulk of the waste material with my Radial arm drill. set as to serve as a warning I was approaching the max floor threshold. Then using the ball gouge I set to work creating heaps of chips, and fashioned something that resembled a small bowl.
I found the gouge very easy to use and busily set about chomping out the material The floor was a bit chunky so I tidied up the side and used a bowl forming router bit to smooth it out.
applied some plastic wood to close the cracks and sanded it with my drill mounted sanding drum.
The edges got a bit thin but it was reasonable. repeated the process on two more over 2 and a bit days. then sanded the edges to try and prevent the bark falling off I tried to use a round over bit and trimmer to profile the inner edges but it was a bit of a failure so back to the drill press mounted sanding drum. To smooth the inside I tried to get Genevieve to work and then tried a batt drill mounted burr, both didn't do too much for me.
Some dimensions :-
Bowl Cavity General overall dimension Height
Average sizes + or - a finger!
I achieved a reasonable result, time will tell if they survive.
So in conclusion:- What did I think of it? 1. Very easy to use 2. Removes wood smoothly 3 Doesn't jump out and scare you 4. No doubt with some decent timber you could produce some really great results. 5. Its messy! 6. As with the Turbo planer the side handle is a must. 7. For freehand carving its a great tool to use. 8. If you need smooth sides a router bowl cutter and bearing make it look like you really know what your doing! 9. Expect to burn up heaps of Abranet if you choose to smooth out tough Aust hardwood, I binned 2 150 mm disks on the three bases then gave up!
10. They will all get a final 3 coats of gloss finish over the next couple of days.
Did I have a marked outlines? ... no I didnt I just used the "Have a go ya mug" method, ... hence some wall penetration, but a lot of fun otherwise.
Glad you found the source of real shop fun. It's awesome if you have access to stumps. limbs, and boles, as grinding into them can make some one of a kind gifts, and such. As you use it, you will see more uses for it. Slabbing limbs into 2" to 3" thick billets so you can make spoons and other treenware offer more uses.
I've found the biggest secret to using it is getting a really nice grinder that is the right weight, and has ggood, easy too use controls for on off. Mine is a DeWalt, with a BIG honking motor, and a on off rocker switch so it goes on, and off in a flash = more control.
Awesome Rob! I love carving but I have to admit, when it comes to hollowing bowls I usually consider an easier way. I imagine I’ll break down and buy something along these lines one of these days.
