Create a Segmented Bowl

Let's create a blank from which you can turn a segmented bowl. So here's a blank. I've already got going made out of Walnut and Maple. And there are a couple of things that are great about doing bowls this way. One is when you're turning this, it's all long grain. We don't have any end grain. So it's easier to get a good quality cut because we're never scraping against end grain. The other thing is, it saves a bunch of time because the middle is already at least partially hollow. There are a bunch of keys to what's going on here. We're gonna create a ring and the key to that ring is getting these segments exactly the right length and getting these angles perfectly cut. So that when we put them together, it's seamless. Just like this. One is the key to getting those angles just right is to use Miter set segments. So what miter set segments is, is a setup device that makes it just dirt simple to get any number of segments that you want. Any angles that you need to produce without having to do any math. So the way it's gonna work is, I'm gonna leave one pin at zero. If I know I want an eight sided something, I put my other pin at eight and then when my miter gauge goes in, I'm gonna flip this around so you can see better. All I have to do is let the bar rest in that slot move forward, let the fence bear against those pins. Lock the head. What's that angle? I don't know. And I don't have to know what I know from mir side segments is that, that gives me the perfect angle to make an eight sided ring like we want for our B from here, we're ready to start making cuts at the table saw. So like I said, at the start, one thing that's critical is making sure we get the angle right and miter set is gonna do that for you. The other thing that will be critical is getting the length right. So we'll use a stop block for that with your parts. The easiest way to do this is to get one end cut on all of your material. So what I mean by that is and my Walnut and Maple, I'm gonna cut one angle on each end and then you'll see as I start doing additional cuts, we just kind of flip flop through the freshly cut end becomes the end we use against the stop block for the next cut on and on and on and on and on. Like this. Now I get a stop block position and then we can start actually making our segments once stop lock is in place. This is a rinse and repeat kind of a thing. Kiss against the ST lo make a cut flip, make another cut. You run out of wood. A nice thing about having this fence on your miter gauge. Two things. One, we need it because of the length of these pieces. Two because it projects out here, it sweeps these small off cuts away from the blade. So they're not gonna come back and get caught by the blade and hit you. So it's a nice safety device. Let's have a look at what we've got because the fun part of this is starting to see your rings come together for your segments. Easiest way to grab these is with a band clamp. And in the end, how do we do with the miter set segments? The proof is in the pudding, which is look at the way our seams are closed up. So the opportunity for cumulative error here is significant that we are often just part of a degree that builds up very quickly because of the number of cuts we're making. So the accuracy we get from mir side is really, really good. It's a way to get started on this. Once we've got all these parts cut, use a band clamp like I have here, get everything glued together in a segment and then we'll look at what we need to do in order to turn them into a bull blank glue your rings together when they're ready to come out of the clamps. The best way to treat these necks is to run them through a drum sander. A drum sander is gonna get them perfectly flat, both faces and that's gonna get us ready to start gluing them into a stack to make this into a bowl. We need a base. In this case, I've glued together some walnut, ran that through a drum sander. So I know it's dead flat. So we're just about ready to do something like this except that it's gonna be easier to do if you cut that base to the same size as the ring. So when I started the glue up on this, I aligned the ring with the base and then on the subsequent rings, you can see I staggered them. I turned them just a little bit clockwise as I put them together just to give this kind of a cool offset. Look as a finish bowl. Once you've got your base prepped and your rings prepped, then that part's easy, glue them and clamp them in a stack, let that glue dry. And then this is the really cool part. We get to head for the lathe and see what that bowl is gonna look like. It's not even sanded and finished yet and it already looks pretty darn amazing. I love the color contrast. So again, key to this is get the length of your segments consistent, get the angle right. And for that, we have might are set to thank for making it so simple to set up the miter gauge. Just pick the number aside. You want set the pins, set your miter gauge to that and you are ready to go to work toward making a segmented bowl like that one.