Center Your Bowl Blank The Easy Way

Tired of using one of those plastic gadgets and drawing all kinds of lines hoping they intersect in the middle then hoping the tailstock finds exact opposite center?

I rough cut my bowl blanks with a chain saw. After halving the log through the pith, I use an electric hand plane to flatten the bottom where the tailstock will contact. Then I plane the other side smooth for the faceplate. I draw a circle for the size bowl to be made then clamp the blank to the edge of a workbench and rough cut the circle with the chainsaw.

To find center I clamp a short section of ½ inch conduit in my bench vise and place a level along side to make sure it's straight. Now it's simply a matter of balancing the faceplate side of the rough lopsided hunk of log on the end of the pipe. I mark a ring around the conduit with a sharpie or magic marker.

Just center the faceplate on the ring or drill if using a woodworm screw. I love this method even though the wood is uneven, it always finds center and so does my tailstock.