Remember the Maple burl that was in the sled ? It is now ready for the long drying period. When I have a really nice bowl blank like this, I will cut out the center with a special curved blade called the McNaughton center saver. It allows you to save the center section of the blank for making another bowl. This is a difficult technique to master on your own. I found a DVD about this system to be very helpful. It was produced, and is available from  professional wood turner Mike Mahoney www.bowlmakerinc.com Another step that I use on many of the higher quality turnings, is to apply a special sealer to the rough turned bowl. This will slow the drying of the bowl and help to eliminate most of the cracks that develop as the wood dries out.

 

This Maple blank has finished drying and is now being turned to it's final shape. This picture also shows the modification that I made to the tool rest support. I made a riser block that offset the tool rest away from the center line of the base. This allows for the tool rest to be kept closer to the work without the base hitting the bowl. Powermatic has now changed to a offset base on the new model 3520B wood lathe.

 

Lower photo shows the finished bottom of the bowl,how it is held with the Vicmarc chuck, and the offset tool rest modification.