How to Make Segmented Bowl Turning Blanks

Turning bowls that are made from segmented turning blanks is a popular woodturning technique. Segmented bowl turning blanks are made from many pieces of wood instead of one solid piece. Small wedges of wood are glued together to form different diameter rings and the rings are stacked and glued together to form a segmented turning blank. A segmented turning blank is more dimensionally stable than a solid wood blank. Solid wood changes dimension across the grain over time. The segmented blank will not change dimension over time. Another advantage of working with segmented turning blank is that they feature face, also known as plank grain, all the way around the bowl blank, making it easier to shape with turning tools.

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[sawdustjoe]

Nice video, Ernie is such a great teacher.

[wardman]

thank you for explaining the titebond's as well.

[Rawc]

Thanks, great video. Straight to the point as well

[dans]

Thank you for explaining how to make this !

[gfotinakes]

Thank you for the blue tape tip. Have a great day.

[John-gjjr]

I make my cuts on an miter saw, but keep track of which side of the blade each cut was made on (I mark them "L" or "R" according to which side of the blade the cut was made. One piece will have one end, or cut, marked "L" and the other end marked "R". Then when I assemble, I always match an "L" end with a "R" end. In my way of thinking, if there's a slight error in the saw setting, each will cancel the other out and you'll have a perfect 45, 36 or whatever, degree angle. I know I'm not the first to think of this, but I seldom have to adjust any joints. If I do, I write it off to sloppy cutting.

Now, if someone will help me with my glue-ups with ten thumbs...

Thanks, Ernie, good video.

[wb_finewoodworking]

An excellent explanation of creating a ring for a segmented bowl.

[haroldhaines]

Better sleds are out there....Wedgy sled for is a good explanation of the is a world of it

[VADOC]

Helpful video would be calculating the size of segments and size of individual pieces for a particular size bowel

[weslydenton]

I saw you can use a cnc and get the perfect segments but, they're redunculously expensive for a dependable one as far as I know.

[dans]

Which is the best option for the wood, to prevent it from cracking later ?

[Jwinnie]

So when you're glueing the segments together you're glueing endgrain to endgrain?

[reedfrench]

How do you figure length of ea segment?