The Tax Deducti-Bowl!

Well, it’s that joyous time of year again! That time where the smell of gross income wafts in the air and the H & R’s are around the Block in anticipation of U.S Income Tax Season. In the spirit of giving Uncle Sam his fair share, Peter created a new project that can definitely earn some interest. Peter has decided to take several years worth of old shredded tax documents and embed them in a resin blank with which to make the Tax Deducti-Bowl! Full tax credit for that amazing name goes to Sabu, a loyal viewer of the channel!

For this piece, Peter utilized Total Boat Thick Set Fathom resin. While there are general guidelines that one should stick to regarding how thick a pour should be, Peter filed for an exemption and went for broke mixing it all at once. That is often a source of fun and excitement in these projects, where Peter is not subject to withholding anything back and just goes for it. Let’s find out how that strategy panned out for him!

After the resin was nice and clear, Peter began to layer in handfuls of shredded documents and resin which resembled a bowl of soggy oatmeal. The proper ratio of resin to taxes is wholly dependent on many factors.  Peter had the benefit of prior experience and knew that absorbent materials like cotton and paper can soak up more resin that it may seem. 

After filling the bowl mold bowl to the brim, it was time for the pressure pot!  This process squeezed all of the trapped air bubbles until they were no longer visible.  The pressure was maintained at 50 PSI for many days while the resin cured.

After auditing the deducti-bowl blank for strength, Peter noticed that the upper region of the bowl only wicked the resin up into the fibers, but lacked sufficient resin between the paper pieces. If Peter turned the bowl in this state, it would have likely torn itself apart on the lathe. Accounting for all of these variables can prove taxing but Peter could not give up here, he already had too much equity invested in this project and he had the tax incentive to keep going! He just added another batch of resin and it was good to go!

Peter then mounted the resin blank on the lathe. When you begin turning a bowl on the lathe, there can be various tail stock options, but they aren’t used after a basic outer bowl shape is obtained. Peter then utilized various shaping tools to hollow out the inside including a Forstner bit.

Peter attempted to gouge a bit too aggressively, which resulted in the material catching, sending the bowl flying off of the lathe!  Luckily, this was a recoverable mistake and he was able to tax return it to the lathe to finish it up.

After enough material was deducted, it was on to sanding! After working through the traditional grits, it was time for the MVP of the ShopTime YouTube channel, MicroMesh!  As the bowl’s rollover on the lathe continued, Peter ramped up the special MicroMesh Grit levels until a beautiful finish was obtained! Peter finally had the incentive to file this one as complete. 

This bowl is certainly destined to become the centerpiece of someone’s tax collection!