Dale Larson lives in Gresham, Oregon and has been turning wood for 45 years. He specializes in turning bowls from local hardwoods, including Pacific Madrone and Big Leaf Maple. His work is both functional and beautiful and much admired by collectors and wood workers alike. His bowls can be found in private collections all over the world.
Dale has taught woodturning classes at John C. Campbell Folk School and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. He has been a demonstrator at five AAW Symposiums, eight regional symposia, and numerous local chapters, as well as international events in England and Israel. He has written articles about wood and woodturning in American Woodturner, World of Wood, Woodworker West, Woodturning Design, and L’echo des Copeaux (AFTAB France).
He currently serves on the board of the Board of Advisors of the AAW. In 2019, Dale was named an AAW Honorary Lifetime Member. He served on the Board of Directors of the AAW from 2009 through 2014 as Symposium chair and three years as President. He is a past president of the Northwest Chapter of the International Wood Collectors Society and a founding member and twice past president of the Cascade Woodturners in Portland, Oregon.
Turning and drying roughed out bowls
This session will cover the ways to rough out and successfully dry bowl blanks. We will discuss air drying, kilns, soaking in soap, microwave, soaking in alcohol and boiling the wet bowl blanks. We will discuss how to get the bowl blank dry without cracking. I will then finish turn a roughed out dry bowl showing how to use gouges and scrapers, sanding and finishing.
Cutting the best bowl blanks out of a tree
I will start with a slide show of how to cut a tree down and cut up the crotch. I will draw and discuss how to cut a tree for the nicest grain pattern in the bowl. The goal here is to get the best bowls out of the tree, not the most bowls. I will then finish turn a bowl showing how to use gouges and scrapers, sanding and finishing.
Turning a sphere by eye
Members will see how to turn spheres on three axis all by eye. I will show how to make the cup chucks for the headstock and tailstock . I will turn three spheres during the class. Turners will learn how to use a jam chuck to hold the sphere so it can be hollowed or decorated.
