Workshop: Turn Better Bowls with Richard Findley

Richard Findley is an outstanding woodturner and woodturning instructor, and we wanted to get him to present a demonstration on turning bowls.  Unfortunately, he is British and has no immediate plans for a trip to the US.  Next best would be an Interactive Remote Demonstration (IRD) via Zoom, but he is booked for the immediate future.  However, Richard has produced a YouTube video series that takes the viewer through the process of turning a quality bowl.  In this 4-episode video series, he not only provides the basic steps followed in turning a bowl but additionally addresses things that can go wrong and how to address them if and when they occur – and more importantly, how to avoid them. He discusses grain direction and tool grain-support and demonstrates the importance of these considerations in your approach to bowl turning, and the benefits derived through following a logical, although not obvious, approach.  His video series stresses not only “how” but also “why”. Consequently, the lessons learned translate to other woodturning undertakings as well as the subject bowls.  So, we requested permission to use the series as a teaching aid, and he agreed.  So, we will introduce a new approach at this workshop.

The 4-episode series requires a bit over 2 hours to view, start to finish.  The approach will be to play a portion of the video until past a point at which he has completed some aspect of turning, then interrupt the video while the participants work together to complete their bowls to the same point.  Then repeat.  Participants will work collaboratively, supporting and encouraging each other to get through the process, one step at a time.  This should be a very interesting and fun way to turn and learn together.

In the video series, Richard turns his bowl from a 10-inch diameter, 3-inch thick turning blank.  While we were not able to obtain the same type of wood, we did manage to get the correct size so that we can follow Richard’s process directly without having to make size adjustments.  The blanks are Sapele, which is a fairly hard, dense African hardwood that is a bit harder than cherry and walnut and roughly in the range of hard maple.  In terms of its ease of turning, it is considered to be easy to moderate.  It is an attractive wood that compares in color to cherry, perhaps leaning a bit more to pink or red, but has a more open grain.  These will make attractive, relatively large bowls.  If we do not finish during the workshop, we can either continue to completion or get together at a later date to complete the project, perhaps during an open turning session – depending on what the attendees decide.

We are not providing a lunch option for this workshop, but take-out lunch will be ordered for those interested at the time, or feel free to bring lunch.  The workshop is limited to a maximum of 12 active SPW club members, and spots will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis.