The first step is to salvage or scavenge some wood. I am very fortunate to know a logger who collects interesting pieces of wood and some burls from the trees that they cut for lumber. I also salvage wood from farms where trees have been cut along fields, and from residential tree removal.

 

Bowl blanks are then roughly cut to shape with a chain saw. I use a Stihl 036 with a 20" bar for most of the cutting. For cutting out large bowl blanks I have an old Husqvarna with a 28" bar.

 

Take a good look at the Maple burl in the sled. This is going to be turned into bowl # 297 and # 298. The roughed out blank sitting on edge will become bowl # 303.

 

Large Cherry blank that is ready to be mounted onto my Powermatic 4224 lathe. Many of the small bowls are turned on a Delta 10" lathe that I bought in 1973. It is a four speed blt drive that I made several modifications to. I installed a counter shaft to slow down the spindle speed, changed it over to a 1 1/2 hp. motor with a reversing switch. Then I made a very heavy steel stand that I bolted to the concrete floor.