Rustic Box Elder Burl Bowl

[W.Y.]

Some here might recall this box elder burl that I posted on WWF about a year ago. It was dropped off here by Bruce (gofer) . Thanks again Bruce.

I had never had a nice big burl like that and was afraid to cut into it for fear of ruining it .
Well, this afternoon I finally got the nerve to cut a 4" slab off of one end. I turned this rustic end grain bowl from that piece. It is 4" deep x 8.5" diameter .

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Here are two shots of the top turned 180 degrees to each other and the same for the bottom.

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The outside formation of that piece of burl is in and out all over the place. I accidentally cut through in one area which left a hole in the side. I know some would have called that art and preferred to leave a gaping hole in the side. . I am not one that looks at bowls in that regard (yet) so until I do , I call it an OOPPSS . I filled the hole with finely ground coffee and CA and the coloring matched up beautifully to look like it was the original bark . It is the dark area at the back of the bowl in the top right picture..

 

[ssajn]

I can describe this piece with one word. Nice.

 

[woodsofourlives]

Very nice, love that wood

 

[el_d]

Very nice!

 

[Fred]

I am in the process of power carving several pieces of Red Mallee (spelling??) using the Proxxon long neck tool and their chain saw like disk. Being very careful to watch 1) my fingers, and 2) the depth of cut.

I hope my bowls turn out as nice as your burl did. Excellent turning and finish!

I must ask though, since the burl looks wider than portions of your bowl, did the out of balance condition cause you much problem? What speed were you able to get up to, etc.?

 

[W.Y.]

Thanks All for the comments.

Fred .
I have a very heavy and powerful 18" X 47" lathe . It just plays with a little 4" x 8.5" out of balance piece like that. That is one big advantage of the bigger lathes with continuous variable speed from zero to 3200 RPM . It handles stuff like that with ease.
It was only necessary to turn that particular wood at 1600 rpm to get nice clean cuts and I sand at 250 to 300 rpm . Saves a lot of sandpaper by not creating heat like my previous lathe that had a bottom speed of 500 rpm.

 

[nava1uni]

Real nice looking bowl. I really like that you left the natural bark on the sides.