John Davis RPT

Turning Burrs plus timber sales.

September 21st 2005

Reviewed by Colin Ford

Hollowing out the burr

John Davis started woodturning after retiring from the police force. He followed a family tradition becoming a professional woodturner like his grandfather before him.

John often uses wood which originates from Australia. He is especially fond of jarrah which, he explained, is similar to oak - hard and dense and with natural fissures. However, he has had more success selling bowls made from red mallee. A wood which, as its name suggests, has a beautiful red colour and it was from this wood that John made a lovely winged bowl at this demonstration.

John mounted the burr initially on a faceplate; he kept the bark on as it sticks well with this type of wood. To rough out he used a 3/8in bowl gouge with a fingernail grind. He also used the bowl gouge to form a spigot for reverse mounting in the chuck. Once the underside of the bowl was made to a satisfactory finish the faceplate was removed and the piece mounted in the chuck to enable the top of the bowl to be cut.

Starting from the outside edge of the bowl, he cut into the ghost line and formed a flat surface. He left a bead at the lip of the central bowl recess to please the eye. At this point the bark could have been removed and the outer edge scorched if required. Scorching must be done before final cuts of the top edge are made, to enable elimination of unsightly marks. Sanding to this edge is also carried out while the lathe is static to avoid rounding over of the winged edge.

Once happy with the finish, John removed the bowl from the chuck and inserted a domed piece of wood with a piece of foam glued to it, he place this back into the chuck. He then put the bowl over the foam and bought the tailstock up against the spigot on the bottom of the bowl. He then removed the spigot leaving a slight concave finish to the underside. For finishing John recommends three coats of Danish oil because wax often fills a natural edge and is difficult to remove without brushing.

Cheam Woodturners would like to thank John for an excellent demonstration and for the opportunity for us to get our hands on some of his beautiful Australian wood.


*The raw burr mounted and ready to turn*		*The bottom complete*

*The bowl being hollowed*		*Henk checks the finished piece out*