The Art of Turned Bowls: Designing Bowls with a World-Class Turner [Paperback]

Richard Raffan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

When first published in 1987, The Art of Turned Bowls was a work ahead of its time. Now, considering the resurgence in popularity of this woodworking genre, the book is perfectly poised for rediscovery. Retooled with fresh full-color photographs of contemporary bowls featuring the work of award-winning turners from around the world, Richard Raffan's classic has been totally updated to meet the demands of today's turner. With a unique talent for making even the most abstract ideas accessible, the world's most admired turning teacher offers an invaluable wealth of design advice. Practical, informative, and undeniably inspiring, this new edition also expands its exploration of form and developing profiles. Along with a good lathe and a reliable set of tools, The Art of Turned Bowls belongs in the shop of every serious bowl turner.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Raffan has been internationally acclaimed for both his turning and his teaching. Well-known for his gallery-quality production work, he is the author of Turning Wood, Turning Boxes and The Complete Illustrated Guide to Turning.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561589543
• ISBN-13: 978-1561589548
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for any woodturner, November 5, 2008

By 

Steve "Virginia woodturner" (Manassas, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Turned Bowls: Designing Bowls with a World-Class Turner (Paperback)

"The Art of Turned Bowls" by Richard Raffan is one of the most important and useful books ever written about woodturning. Its predecessor, "Turned Bowl Design" (1987), now out of print and selling for a premium on the used market, was excellent, and until now, the best book on woodturning design ever written. I read or referred it repeatedly over the years and will undoubtedly do so for this new version.

If you are a woodturner, you will learn, in detail, what you can do to design well-proportioned and aesthetically pleasing bowls and vessels. It doesn't teach you how to turn; there are numerous other good books for that, the latest edition of "Woodturning With Richard Raffan" and its companion DVD are excellent. I taught myself how to turn with the first editions of those. Presented are not only basic general principles of design, like the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Mean, but detailed guidelines on how to prepare bowl blanks from the tree or the lumberyard to show grain patterns to best effect, generate smoothly flowing curves, find the most pleasing relationship between the diameter and shape of a bowl to its base, add interest to your turnings with color, carving, piercing, and other techniques, and a lot of other useful information.

For those unfortunate souls who are not woodturners, this book is good for you too. It is chock-full of beautiful color photographs of Raffan's world-class turnings, as well as those of other expert woodturning artists, an improvement over the mostly black and white photos in "Turned Bowl Design." More importantly, this book will help you understand, when you look at a wood (or ceramic, or glass) bowl that you like, WHY you like it, and why a lot of bowls out there are not well-done.

Overall, "The Art of Turned Bowls" is a peek inside the mind of one of the world's best woodturners (and a very nice and interesting man in person). If you appreciate art and craft in any of its myriad forms, this book will leave you with a good feeling.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good outgrowth of his earlier book on design, September 24, 2008

By 

Dusty (wetter washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Turned Bowls: Designing Bowls with a World-Class Turner (Paperback)

If you have his earlier (now out of print) book on bowl design, this book is an outgrowth of that book. The first several chapters are just an expansion of that work, down to using some of the same photos and drawings.
For people that don't have the first book, this books is 100% a great read and recommended.
For people that have the first book, your real treat is the later chapters, which contain much new information.

If you are serious about turning a well shaped object, buy, read and study this book

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any woodcrafting library needs this, December 13, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Turned Bowls: Designing Bowls with a World-Class Turner (Paperback)

World-class turner Richard Raffan provides a fine guide to turning bowls in his ART OF TURNED BOWLS, a tutorial teaching bowl design and longevity of product. The focus is on creating lovely shapes and wood which continues to delight as it changes and ages: first published as TURNED-BOWL DESIGN in 1987, this new edition has been completely updated with new information and color photos. Any woodcrafting library needs this.