Woodturning Square Bowl From Venezuelan Saman

Square Bowl-Saman

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I received this wood from a friend who had traveled and lived in Venezuela. He had returned with a “bookcase” of beautiful wood, saman. He was moving and need to find a new home for the wood. The wood was already 12″ square and 2″ thick. I trimmed it to remove dings in the edges.

Mounted with hot melt glue, I turned a mortise. But at the last minute, the hot melt glue failed. Why? too heavy, too little glue, operator error? I had other difficulties but continued until I now have a square bowl, almost a platter.

It is still almost 12″ square, finished with wipe-on poly.

Beautiful wood.

Enjoy.


6 Responses to “Woodturning Square Bowl From Venezuelan Saman”

  1. Charles Kuether says:

    Thank you for leaving in the “problems” and fixes. I frequently learn more from them than when all goes well.

    It was nice to meet you in Portland.

  2. Gary Egbert says:

    Great video and as usual I learned a lot. I wondered what RPM you were using. Is higher better than lower when turning “air” on the OD of the piece and how do you decide how high is good and not dangerous.

    • When turning air, higher is often better as it seems to smooth out. But also very important are light cuts so that the tool does not drop into the voids.
      I cannot specify RPM since my lathe does not have a meter.
      However, even if it did, I would not specify RPM’s since it varies with the wood balance, wood weight, sturdiness of the lathe, and operator comfort.
      The general rules are. If lathe is vibrating, slow down. If you are nervous, slow down.
      Alan

  3. robert lindstadt says:

    I like swallow mortises also but I too have noticed they don’t always hold
    Even when I hold my piece with a block of wood and my tail stock holding pressure
    I was thinking of glueing a tenon in mortise
    What do you think? Wondering if hotmelt glue would be enough?

    • It depends on a lot of factors. First, are your jaws dovetailed. I trust a dovetail to hold much better than an straight corner.
      Next, how are they failing? If breaking due to expansion pressure, consider leaving more wood outside the mortise and tapering out to the outer edge. This could preserve more wood for strength without appearing too deep. Another solution that I have used is to add a band clamp around the wood to counteract the expansion pressure (depends on the project.
      If wood is simply failing, there could be many reasons.
      Hot melt is good but has limitations. Double stick tape is good but also has limitations.
      I have also glued on waste wood (with wood glue) in which to cut a tenon. Then turn off the waste wood and form the foot.
      No absolute answer – Keep Experimenting. If you don’t have failures, you may not be pushing your envelope.
      Alan