I’ve found that an old car valve works well as a live center for turning the base on a bowl that has its top edge left natural from the log. The valve stem is small enough in diameter to fit in a Jacobs chuck, and it’s long enough to allow fairly deep bowls to be turned. The valves are usually free, because service stations that rebuild engines normally throw them out.

First, I fasten the valve in the chuck. Then with a small circle of indoor-outdoor carpeting inside the bowl for padding, I bring the ball-bearing tailstock up to the center of the bowl’s bottom, which I’ve marked with a centerfinder. You need quite a bit of pressure for this technique to work properly, so leave plenty of wood on the bowl’s bottom when you are roughing it out; you don’t want the tailstock center to punch through the bottom. Things may get out of balance, so wear face protection and keep your lathe at low speed. Be sure to leave enough wood around the tailstock center for safety; this nub will be easy enough to clean up by hand after the bowl is removed from the lathe.

Robyn Horn, Little Rock, Ark.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, June 1988 No. 70

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