I turn the outside of the bowl first and put in a series of parallel grooves to a fixed depth of roughly ½ of the thickness (usually 1/8” to 3/16”) of the rim or body of the finished bowl. It is important to note here that the part of the bowl, which is to have the woodlace treatment, must be turned to a portion of a sphere (circular radius). If one were steady enough, these grooves might be done with a parting tool but I use a piece of sharpened tool steel, fastened to a cross-slide table which I pivot to follow the curve of the bowl as I cut in each parallel groove.

With the bowl reversed, I turn the inside to the required thickness and sand lightly. With the lathe stopped and using an indexing attachment, I cut the inside grooves. I use an electric (sometimes pneumatic) die grinder in a pivoting jig (see photo) to cut each groove to just meet the external groove running perpendicular to it. A great deal of care must be taken to get the radius, of the arc, just right so that the depth of cut is correct at all points!

Then its sand, sand, to about 1500 grit, finish with polymerized tung oil and buff with wax.

I am uploading an image of the pivoting jig, and a couple of other bowls that have the woodsong woodlace treatment. Note the indexing plate at the rear, the bowl steady to keep the rim from moving, and the electric die grinder mounted on a board with a moveable pin to set the radius. The grinder has a 1/8” milling bit. Fine adjustments to the radius are made by changing the projection of the bit in the collet. The jig is itself mounted on a cross-slide table and it is run in to give the exact depth of cut. A c clamp is used to provide a fixed stop for the grinder.

For the pedastals, I reverse the process and cut the radial outside grooves first and then cut the inside circular grooves by putting my cutting tool at the end of an arm that will reach in the full length of the pedestal.

The potpourri lids that I make require a somewhat different technique as the interior grooves run parallel ( across the lid rather than from center to rim ).

To see more of Garry's work visit: http://www.woodsongstudio.ca/