What the Heck is a Ringmaster ???

(Click any pic for a larger image)

 A Ringmaster is a device that cuts rings from a round wooden disk, in such a way that they can be glued together forming a bowl.

The Ringmaster is most commonly sold as a stand-alone lathe & motor unit as above, but you can also purchase the cutter attachment only, and bolt it to your lathe bed.  That's what I have.

The crank on the right moves a set of cutters back and forth through the blank.  In the photo above, the red circle shows the cutter travelling through the disk.

The rings as they come from the disk, and in a press being glued together.  The following are three plain straight-sided ringmaster bowls.  

These first 'practice' bowls were made with very little thought as to colour or segmented pattern.  

This is a 'dizzy bowl' which I'll describe in more detail in an upcoming post.  These are also made on the Ringmaster.