Red Cedar Bowl

Mike Stafford turns a bowl that is neither round nor square

Colourful wood plate with red and yellow swirls.
Table of Contents

A lot of us are initially attracted to woodturning because we want to turn round bowls. I was first attracted to the craft because I wanted to turn boxes. My first attempts at turning boxes were miserable failures. I soon discovered I needed to learn how to turn a bowl.

After a few hundred round bowls, somewhere I saw a square bowl. I wanted to turn one of those. I even went so far as to take a class with my friend Jamie Donaldson, entitled It’s Hip to Be Square. During that week-long class we turned square and rectangular bowls and platter forms of all sizes. That was probably the first and last time I was ever hip. So, for a while I turned a lot of square bowls and platters. Once I had my fill of being hip I looked for other shapes to turn and happened to spy a box I made for my wife when I was still doing flat woodworking.

When I was a flat woodworker, I made boxes that were not round or square. I called them ‘split swivel lid boxes’, for lack of a better name. They proved quite popular with customers. So why couldn’t I turn a bowl that was neither round nor square? I decided to give it a try.

Three handcrafted wooden boxes with unique designs.
Split swivel lid boxes
Elegant wooden bowl with curved design

Health & safety

Respect the bandsaw

A dear friend of mine was careless for only a moment when he was sawing a blank on the bandsaw. That carelessness almost cost him a finger and a thumb. Doctors were able to save both digits, but he lost the ability to bend his thumb because of his injury.

Be very careful when using any power tool

Plans & equipment

  • PPE & RPE as appropriate
  • Centre finder
  • Awl
  • 2in Forstner bit
  • Compass and ruler for marking up the blank
  • Try square
  • 3⁄8 in bowl gouge
  • 1⁄2 in spindle gouge
  • Parting tool
  • Beading tools, 1⁄4 in, 1⁄8 in and 1⁄16 in
  • Four-jaw chuck with 50mm jaws
  • Bandsaw
  • Belt or disc sander
  • Portable drill with sanding mandrels
  • Sandpaper

Materials

  • Wooden blank, eastern red cedar 6in square and 2in thick
PlanDownload

Start with a square blank

To turn a bowl neither round nor square, start with a square blank. Then it is necessary to lay out the shape you wish to create on the blank. This is the technique for doing so. I used it for my split swivel lid boxes so I knew it would work for a bowl.

Wood block secured in metal clamp on workbench.
1. I had a small piece of eastern red cedar about 6in square and 2in thick with interesting grain patterns and good colour that was just perfect for my project. One corner has a bit of a waney edge that will not be a problem as it will be sawn and turned away. Eastern red cedar is in the juniper family and is quite soft, which makes it easy to turn and finish. It also has the added benefit of being quite aromatic, so my shop will be pleasantly scented for a while

Laying out the blank

Measuring wood with a yellow square tool
2. The first step is to find the centre of the blank. I always locate the centre on the side that has what I hope is the most attractive figure and will be hollowed to become the ‘bowl’. This I do by using a centre finder from each corner. I mark the centre point with an awl
Person measuring wood with ruler and pencil
3. Next, I find the centre of each side by using a try square with the edge of the blade splitting the centre mark I just made. I mark the centre of each side with a sharp pencil. Where the line from the centre intersects with the edge of the blank marks the location where the point of a compass will rest, so the compass pencil can draw an arc along the opposite side of the blank
Drawing circle on wood with compass tool.
4. To draw the arc, I start by clamping a waste block of wood against one edge of the blank. Next, I locate the point of the compass on the mark I drew through the centre against the piece of scrap wood clamped against the side of the bowl blank and extend the pencil point until it aligned with edge directly opposite. The compass was then locked to maintain the same radius even though only an arc will be drawn instead of a full circle. Then it is just a matter of swinging the pencil from one adjacent side to the other to draw the arc of the bowl edge
Marking wood with compass for cutting.
5. This process is repeated, locating the compass point against the scrap block clamped along the remaining three sides until identical arcs are drawn on all four sides
Square wood block with marked circular lines.
6. The completed neither round nor square blank looks like this with four arcs drawn, one on each side

Shaping the rough blank

Person shaping wood with a bandsaw machine.
7. With the layout complete on the blank, the next step is to remove the waste outside the layout lines. This is done by carefully sawing outside the lines with the bandsaw
Hands holding marked wooden block for cutting.
8. When all the waste had been removed I took the blank to my belt sander and carefully sanded the edges to the arc lines drawn on the blank
Woodblock with marked centre point, workshop setting.
9. The completed neither round nor square blank ready to be mounted and turned

Turning the neither round nor square bowl

Woodturning on a lathe with carving tool.
10. To mount the blank, I drilled a 2in hole with a Forstner bit with its point located at the centre I had marked with the awl. I used my chuck with 50mm jaws in expansion mode to mount the blank. The first thing I did was flatten the face of what would become the bottom of the bowl. Using a 3⁄8 in bowl gouge, I cleaned the rough surface off the blank and flattened it. It is important to remember that this blank has four corners so care must be exercised when engaging the wood with the tool. A careless moment will result in a momentous catch and a ruined blank. With the blank flat I used a sharp parting tool to remove wood from the centre for a decorative recess into which the chuck can be mounted. The recess was hollowed to about 1⁄4in in depth but the centre of the recess was left proud so that decorative beads could be applied. I carefully sanded the interior of the recess
Woodturning on lathe with hand tool
11. Next, with a 1⁄4in beading tool I created a bead around the recess. Red cedar tends to chip and tear sometimes when beading cross grain, but I have found that higher speeds and a sharp tool will allow the turner to have more success
Woodturning on a lathe with chisel
12. When I was satisfied with the large bead, I used a 1⁄8 in beading tool to create another bead outside of the chuck recess. The smaller bead was cut deeper, and its height was lower than the larger bead. The additional bead served not only a decorative purpose but also was structural in that it buttressed the chuck recess. Next, I used a 1⁄16 in beading tool to just score parallel lines inside the recess for decorative effect
Woodturning machine creating wood shavings
13. With the chuck recess complete, I turned the rest of the bottom of the bowl. I wanted the bottom of the bowl to sweep upward to the rim. With a series of push cuts with my 3⁄8 in bowl gouge, I formed the bottom of the bowl
Woodturning process on a lathe with shavings.
14. With this soft cedar a sharp edge is essential, so I sharpened the tool before the final cuts
Handcrafted wooden bowl on a lathe machine.
15. After some finish sanding – it doesn’t take long on this soft wood as it is easily smoothed with higher grits – the bottom was ready for some finish
Handcrafted wooden vase with concentric circle design.
16. I applied several coats of thinned brushing lacquer and used superfine 6/0 steel wool between coats to remove any raised grain or dust motes

Health & Safety

Overheating

Eastern red cedar sands easily. It is also easy to overheat this timber which can result in heat checks. When sanding with finer grits of sandpaper by hand, or while power sanding, heat can be generated quickly. If the wood feels hot, stop sanding and allow the wood to cool down. This is particularly true when the area sanded is already quite thin.

Hallowing the bowl

Woodturning process with spinning lathe and chisel.
17. The blank was removed from the chuck and reversed so that the chuck jaws sat firmly in the recess in the bottom of the bowl. The jaws were then expanded to securely hold the blank. Once I was certain that the blank was running true I started cutting with a bowl gouge to begin the hollowing process. First, I flattened the face. Hollowing a blank neither round nor square is no different to hollowing any other bowl blank. It is just important that care is taken to ensure that the gouge does not hit the corners and ruin all your hard work. The hollowing process must be done in a manner that ensures the entirety of the bowl rim is the same thickness when the bowl is complete. This uniform thickness must be achieved early in the process. I hollow the bowl in steps that leave a central pyramid of wood to add structural stability while I am working to get the rim even all the way around
Wooden piece on a lathe being turned.
18. Careful control and placement of the bowl gouge is essential to get the rim equal in thickness all the way around. The even appearance of the rim adds to the appeal of this neither round nor square bowl
Woodturning on lathe with tool shavings.
19. With the rim thickness established, stepwise hollowing continues until the bowl is complete
Woodturning on a lathe machine with grain patterns
20. When the tool work is completed all that remains is finish sanding and applying a finish. The interior of the bowl was sanded as smoothly as the bottom and several coats of lacquer were applied and rubbed between coats with super-fine steel wool
Handcrafted wooden bowl with vibrant orange patterns.
21. A topcoat of wax was used to polish the finished bowl
Handcrafted wooden bowl with smooth, colourful finish.

22. I took the bowl off the chuck and applied a topcoat of microcrystalline wax to give my red cedar neither round nor square bowl a silky sheen and feel

Final thoughts

Turning a bowl neither round nor square offers the turner an interesting variation on the normal round or square turnings produced on the lathe. I have turned neither round nor square bowls as small as 4in and as large as 11in. Just about any size bowl can be turned in this shape. They are like turning a square bowl in that the turner must be careful to avoid careless cuts on the corners which will ruin the bowl.

So, give a neither round nor square bowl a try and accept the admiring looks of your fellow turners who aren’t as hip as you are. Usually I turned one-offs, but I had an order for eight from one customer. Most of the time for a single bowl I would just lay out the shape with my compass, but with so many to make I made a template with which I laid out all the bowls so they would be the same size. Conveniently, this template happens to be the same size as the bowl featured in this article.

Further reading

Trees for Life: Cedarwood

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