More bowls!

I need to think of more varied titles for my posts. One of these days.

Anywho... now that bowls have been made gifts of, I can post them without spoiling any surprises.

First, we have a cherry bowl:
Simple design, turned out of a solid piece of cherry. I liked the way the grain was going to look, so I didn't want to take away from it with a complex bowl shape. I think it worked well. 6 1/2 inches in diameter, by 1 1/2 inches tall. Finished with natural polyurethane for shine.

The nice thing about simple shapes is they sand out quickly and easily, unlike this next one...
The more complex shape meant more difficult sanding. As well as this being walnut, it took me a while to sand. But the reward is well worth the effort, in my opinion. One of my better bowls of late, in my opinion. This bowl is 7 inches in diameter, by 3 3/8 inches tall, turned from a block of laminated walnut, cut and stacked from a single board. Finished with polyurethane.

And then there's the last of the old stuff, I think. This one I actually turned last year, but it spent time as a dust collector on my shelf until a few months ago. I just didn't really like the shape. I had something in mind when I started turning away on it, but the wood had other ideas, and this is how it turned out:
While I don't are much for the shape, I do love the grain. Fortunately, someone else liked the shape, so I gave it to her.

Woodrotted cypress, with the bad wood picked and carved out to make cavities in the walls. 7 1/2 inches diameter by 5 1/8 inches tall, and finished with Polyurethane, of course.

Bowls posted... and now, a rant. Or just thoughts, or details to a plan... take it how you wish.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure when I'll do some more turning. I have two more that are in the process of being finished, (And they'll be posted soon, within a couple weeks.) but other than that... I don't know. I really have missed turning this past year, and it felt good to attack the lathe with the vigor of trying to make bowls for everyone by Christmas. I feel my best work comes when I'm making something specifically for someone, and each of the bowls I turned in the past month has been for someone.

However, two things happened while I was turning these bowls. One, I realized that my skill as a woodturner has sort of passed the level of equipment I have. My lathe is a benchtop Craftsman 12 inch swing by 36 inch bed lathe. It has stamped steel ways that the tool rest attaches to, which flex noticeably when I turn larger bowls. The amount of turning marks I have to sand out is annoying, no matter what I do to avoid them. I feel like I've done everything I can to improve my own skill, and now it's time to look at my equipment, and improve there.

The second thing that has happened, is the spindle bearings in the headstock of my lathe developed a small amount of play. Maybe they've always been like that, and I've never noticed, or maybe turning bowls that are 2 and 3 times larger than the lathe is designed for is taking it's toll. Either way, it has made it harder to make nice things.

And so, I come to a crossroads. I love my lathe, but it's also old. I bought it used, and it's showing its age. It's been a great machine to learn on, and I've done great things (to me, anyways) with it. But I think maybe it's time to upgrade to something a bit bigger, a bit better, and a bit shinier, and give the old one a well deserved retirement, or rebuild.

The problem with a new lathe is going to be finding a good one that runs off 110VAC, draws less than 15 amps, fits in the garage, and is affordable.

Until I find it, I'll keep turning on my old one.