Bob's Basket Weave

stuart johnson

stuart johnson

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Staff member
I've seen segments cut like the basket weave before just not combined to make the weave pattern. How are segments cut or assembled so the ends are parallel yet still make a ring? I keep looking at this thinking it has to be fairly simple but so far I haven't figured it out.
 
Hi Stuart,
I used a wedgie sled and set my table saw blade at a 23deg angle (You can pick any angle you like but a 20-25deg angle looks ok) I used 18mm ply and milled strips 18mm - 22mm wide depending on the shape of your bowl. Now here is the trick when you saw the segments you need to mark with a pencil the segments that come off the front arm of the sled(f1,f2,f3 etc) and the segments coming off the back arm of the sled (b1,b2...etc) Why is that so..you ask. The reason is you choose only one set of segments either all the front ones or all the back ones to make your ring. You then cut a few strips of ply length wise same angle both sides for your spacers.

Then the fun starts trying to glue up the ring because with the angles involved you cannot put a rubber band or any ties around the ring because they will just pop out. I glued two segments with a spacer with a rub joint until the glue held firm then repeated the exercise until the ring was complete. Once all rings are complete I lightly sanded them all in a drum sander just to remove excess glue and get the spacers down to the same height as the ring.

After that its just the same as any other bowl to put together and turn.
I suggest you cut a few segments and spacers first for one ring only, glue it up to check out how you are going to put it all together to get an idea.

An after thought is next time I do one I will use marine ply as it is a higher quality ply.
Good luck if you have ago
 
I have not done this pattern but have laminated a plywood bowl. The Baltic Birch plywood worked very well and has many more plies than our basic North American plywoods. There are rarely any voids in it as well.
 
Bob, Thanks for the how to. I'm going to give this a try as soon as I complete my current project. I use plywood often when checking a design to be sure I like the way it will look. Many times it will be with a very low grade of plywood with voids. If it is something I think I'll keep I'll fill the voids with colored epoxy.
 
Hi Stuart and Glenn,
Thanks for your comments. I was quite lucky in that I did not have many voids, only one as I was on the last cut on the inside which I had to patch (Murphy's law). Be prepared to sharpen your chisels a lot of times as the ply blunts them very quickly, although 40 grit sand paper comes in handy ;):p when you first put the bowl on the lathe to wear down the ridges on the inside before using tools.
 
Bob, any pictures of the basket weave? I'm having difficulty seeing what this looks like. I know what a basket looks like but how it looks in a bowl escapes me.
 
If you go to the Forums page and click a couple of times on the right arrow in the pictures "New Media" you will find two pictures of the basket weave bowl.

Thanks Glenn for your comment.
 
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