TURNING

Checkered Bowls
Reinterpreting in wood the designs of the American Indian
by Irving Fischman

After turning bowls for several years, I have recently begun planed or sanded flat and cut into a disk shape.
to explore the classic designs used since antiquity in pottery To provide a means of attaching the faceplate, I glue a
and basket making. I am now particularly interested in the piece of 3/4-inch Baltic birch plywood directly to the bottom
pottery and basketry of the Indians of the Americas. Simple of the teak. No sheet of paper is used between them because
shapes—such as truncated cones or bells—are used to the mass is so large that the paper might fail during turning. I
counterpoint intricate painted or woven patterns. I have tried use birch plywood because it is far stronger than either fir
to reinterpret this design approach into a different medium, plywood or solid wood.
wood. The checkered ring in the center of the bowl is not an inlay
One bowl in particular has a simple bell or trumpet shape as first observation of the completed bowl might suggest. It is
and a checkered pattern of teak and black walnut, woods that a separate layer composed of solid truncated-wedge-shaped
are richly contrasting. To make this bowl, familiarity with pieces glued together to form a ring. This technique is much
lathe work and a supply of clamps, both band and deep easier than inlaying on the curved surface of a turned bowl
throated, are essential. and the pattern can be seen on both sides of the bowl—in the
Basically, the bowl is made of three layers of wood. A 15 or manner of Indian baskets.
16-inch square of one-inch walnut forms the top layer of the The ring has twenty-four pieces, the smallest number that I
bowl and an 11-inch square of two-inch teak forms the felt would have a pleasing visual effect. Larger numbers of
bottom. In between is a checkered ring of teak and walnut pieces are possible, but the accuracy of the angles of the pieces
one inch thick. Both the top and bottom pieces should be becomes correspondingly more critical.

Bowls in various stages of construction are shown in a flow sequence.

 With 24 pieces the base angle of the wedge is 82.5 degrees identical pieces each of teak and walnut, flipping the board
or 7.5 degrees from the vertical. If the outside edge of each after each pass to get the wedge shape.
wedge measures 1-7/8 inches, the ring will have a diameter of If the angle has been set correctly, the 24 pieces should
approximately 14 inches (from the formula circumference form a perfect ring. This can be checked by clamping the
equals pi times diameter; the circumference in this case is 24 pieces dry with the band clamp. Slight errors can be corrected
times 1-7/8 inches). by sanding.
The wedges are cut from identical pieces of one-inch teak Alternating the teak and walnut blocks, glue is applied to
and walnut three inches wide by 27 inches long. In cutting their edges and a belt clamp tightened around them. (A
the wedges on the table saw, the blade is kept vertical and the tourniquet could be used instead.) I simultaneously clamp
cross cut guide is set at 82.5 degrees. First, the end of the the whole ring between two disks of 1/2 or 3/4-inch plywood,
board is trimmed to this angle. Then the board is flipped over protected with wax paper, to assure that the ring is flat. I use
and the 1-7/8-inch base length is marked on the edge. This is yellow glue (aliphatic resin) throughout because it hardens
used to set the distance between the fence and the blade. and is stronger than white glue. Plastic resin, resorcinol, or
Because the crosscut guide is on the opposite side of the blade casein are other possibilities. After allowing the glue to dry
from the fence, using a fence for measuring each subsequent thoroughly, the ring is removed and touched with a sander or
piece would cause the blade to bind. Therefore, we actually plane to make sure it is flat.
measure to a short hardwood block clamped at the front of It should be noted we are gluing end grain which is not
the fence, which acts as a distance marker. Now we cut 12 especially strong. However the ring will be glued between two

Approximate cross section of bowl showing placement of the layers. Bowls are turned by eye without templates.
 solid layers and we have the advantage of not turning end
grain.
The entire turning block can now be assembled. The teak
base (with birch plywood block already attached), checkered
ring, and walnut top are glued together and clamped using
many clamps to assure good contact. Concentric alignment is
important and either circles or crossed diameter lines drawn
on the blocks will help. The block is allowed to sit one or two
days to assure that the glue in the interior is dry.
A faceplate is now attached to the birch plywood on the
completed turning block. Because of its large size, the block
must be mounted securely on the outboard side of the lathe. I
use a heavy duty lathe with four speeds—600 and 1200 rpm
for faceplate turning—2400 and 3600 rpm for spindle
turning. The handrest is mounted on a moveable tripod.
With the lathe at its lowest speed, a heavy scraper is used to
round the walnut top disk, both for balance and to determine
Truncated segments are cut with the cross-cut guide set at
82.5 degrees for 24-piece ring. Block clamped to rip fence the final dimension of the bowl. Then a gouge is employed to
safely eliminates need for measuring each piece. rough the outside shape. Starting at the bottom, material is
removed from each of the three layers until there are no gaps
between the layers and the tool cuts solid material throughout
its path. Keep in mind that the three layers will cut
differently—the easiest is the teak and the hardest the
walnut. Also, teak is notorious for dulling tools and frequent
sharpening and honing will be necessary. Final outside
shaping is accomplished with a scraper, taking very light cuts
Any small tool can be used to apply the radius on the bottom
edge.
At this point I usually sand the outside of the bowl
completely since I can apply as much pressure as I like to the
still solid block. In other words, I don't tackle the inside until
the outside is completely finished.
The inside of the bowl is tackled with the handrest facing
the top of the bowl. First I remove with a parting tool a
central disk of walnut eight inches in diameter. This disk

Tourniquet clamp holds glued segments together while two

plywood disks protected by waxed paper are clamped to hold
checkered ring flat between them.

Checkered ring is touched with sander to make sure it's flat; Outside of bowl is turned and finished first with lathe set at
then it's glued between the two-inch teak base block and the low, 600 rpms. Top walnut board gives the bowl stability
one-inch walnut board that will form the top rim. during this stage. The handrest is on a moveable tripod.
matches the hole in the checkered ring and has not been
removed until now to assure rigidity during both the gluing
and the outside turning process. Because the parting tool is
not coming in from the side, be sure to widen the groove that
it makes so that it doesn't get caught. When the cut is
completed, the central disk is easily removed.
Now I usually remove some material from the center of the
bowl, so that the handrest can be moved in to act as guide for
roughing out the inside. I prefer the scraper for this operation
so there is no chance of the tool catching in the wood.
The bowl takes shape very quickly now. The sides,
completed first, are made parallel to the outside and be-
tween 1/4 and 3/l6-inches thick. Don't make the sides any Thickness of bottom is measured and kept between 3/8 and
thinner or stability becomes a problem with these laminated 1/2 inches to give bowl a solid feel. Use a higher lathe speed
bowls. The sides taper slightly at the rim and gradually for bottom. Author sells the bowls for about $80.
increase in thickness at the base. A higher lathe speed should
be used to finish the bottom. The bottom is left between 3/8
and 1/2 inches thick to give the bowl a solid feel.
The interior and rim of the bowl are now sanded. Teak
sands very nicely, and I use only grits 60 to 120, wetting the
surface occasionally to bring up the grain. The entire bowl can
now be burnished with a clean rag if desired.
The completed bowl is split from the Baltic birch backing
and the bottom is hand planed or sanded flat. Finally, I
prefer to give the bowl a rich oil finish, but a glossier finish
can be tried.
The finished bowl takes five hours to complete and about
$10 in materials. The present design can readily be seen as a
jumping off point for many variations. Contrasting veneers
could be placed between the layers to form stripes in the
finished bowl. Different numbers of pieces and different
woods could create other patterns.
However, I feel that the basic design approach—using a
simple shape to compliment intricate patterns—is essential to
a satisfactory finished product.
Inside of the bowl is now turned and completed. Sides are
turned first parallel to the outside and no less than 1/4 to 3/16
inches thick in the interest of stability.

Once outside is completed, a parting tool is used to cut the When cut is completely through, centrifugal force holds disk in
central disk from the walnut top. Widen the groove so the tool place until lathe is stopped. The disk should be made smaller
doesn't get caught. than the inside of checkered ring.