- Bowl with Inlaid Band
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Don't let this long winded process intimidate you - the whole thing except for the drying times only takes minutes.
Here's how I do it:
You can buy these inlay bands in Woodcraft stores or other suppliers. Your issues will be this: The band is not initially curved to fit a bowl, the ends need to meet with a seamless appearance, the surface you glue it on needs to be cylindrical and you need to cut a precise groove to inset it. Don't attempt to put a band on a tapered part of the bowl - it just won't work. These bands only bend in one plane.
Shape the Band
You need a round object such as bottle or metal pan that's just a little smaller than your bowl in radius to wrap your band around for shaping.
You need some paper towel or cloth which you will wrap around the band while it dries.
You need some duct or masking tape, a few pieces pre-cut to hold the drying band around the pan.
The Band Shaping Process
Put a couple tablespoons of water in a gallon size plastic ziplock bag and bring the water to a boil in your microwave
While the water is piping hot, roll your band into the plastic bag and seal it closed. Immediately place the bag back in the microwave and for exactly one minute turn on the heat while watching the bag expand with steam, killing the heat as the bag starts to swell. Why the one minute? Because that's about how much the band can stand without coming unglued in the bag.
Quickly remove the band and, holding the ends, wrap it around your chosen cylindrical bottle or pan, wrap your paper towel or cloth around the band to hold it in place and tape it secure with your masking or duct tape. Since I offer no preventative safety tips herein, you may now go and soak your scalded hand in ice water as necessary.
Let the band dry completely - you can speed this up by putting the whole thing in a very low temperature oven (not above 100 degrees). You must not attempt to glue the band on your bowl if it's wet or you will have a mess that won't stick.
Prepare the Bowl
1) Get to the final stages of your bowl - nearing the final sanding.
2) The bowl needs to be perfectly round - so re-turn it if it is not and don't let it sit long before you apply the band. It may warp and mess you up.
3) Sand the band area smooth to make your groove cuts nice and clean
Cut the Goove:
You need an inlay knife which has a tiny sharp blade with a sharp pointy tip, This is used to pre-cut edges of the groove and to cut the band ends. I think an Exacto knife may work OK if you don't have an inlay knife.
You need a cutoff tool to turn the groove for the band.
With the lathe running, use the inlay knife pointed straight into the wood, with light pressure, make a single cut to about the depth of the band thickness for one side of your band groove. Be very careful not to let the blade walk across the bowl making threads all over the place. This is the reason you are using the point to cut. By all means do NOT try to make this cut laying the sharp blade directly on to the wood or you WILL be making threads. Hold the knife firmly against the tool rest but use delicate pressure into the wood bowl until you get some penetration.
Use a piece of the band to mark the position of the other side of the band groove - when in doubt, start a tiny bit narrower than the width of the band. Turn another precise cut for this other side of the groove.
Use your cut off tool to remove the groove wood to the depth of the the band thickness. Check the band fit and trim the groove for perfection. Don't widen the groove with the cutoff tool, but always make a new edge cut using the inlay knife. This assures a real clean groove edge.
Cut your shaped band a little longer than the required circumference and fit it into your groove, being sure you can press it all the way in, ALL the way around.
Glueing the Band in Place
You need Crazy glue (just a dab for starting things)
You need your favorite wood glue ( I like Tite-Bond II or III)
You need some long stretchy band - rubber band (I use thin stretchy sewing cord (Walmart in the sewing section) Have enough to make 10 wraps or so around the bowl.
I recommend you do this with your piece still in the lathe so you may roll the piece while working glue and wrapping the stretchy band etc.
1) Trim one end of your band along the pattern - it helps if the band pattern has diagonal lines in it since a diagonal cut is more invisible.
2) Put a drop of crazy glue on the end of the band and stick (the end only) into your precision groove and hold it down with the flat side of your knife until the end is firmly stuck place.
3) With the first end stuck firmly, flow an ample amount of your wood glue underneath the band all the way around. With your finger start at the attached end of the band and work it down tight into the groove. When you get to the other end, trim the final end while it lies right on top of the attached end and press it into place.
4) Wrap Your elastic band around and around tightly allowing the glue to squeeze out.
5) Let it dry, remove the elastic band and sand it in the lathe until flush and smooth.
You may be concerned when the band ends meet with the circumference having been dictated by other factors that are hard to control, that the pattern of the band may show an interruption. It will in fact do so almost every time. But guess what: If your meeting joint is real tight, in about 15 minutes you probably won't see that irregularity yourself and certainly nobody else will notice it. There may be some band patterns that would show the irregularity more than others, but most of them are very hard to detect. The eye just seems to look past it. Don't make pattern continuity a priority in this or you will go nuts for nothing.