8" Laminated Red Oak Bowl

[W.Y.]

When Bruce (gofer) was in my area recently he brought me some odds and ends of wood. Among them was a very heavy 2.5" thick x 8" wide laminated red oak mantelpiece that had been taken down from somewhere. There were some screw holes in the bottom but I was mostly able to work around them and where I couldn't I filled them .
I got enough to turn two bowls the size of this one and then last night I cut two pieces 16" long and glued and clamped them together for a piece 16" square . I think there is enough left for a third bowl or some other form of turning .

Thanks again Bruce. That is an awesome piece of wood.

This afternoon I cut a 16" circle out of that and I now have that big heavy blank mounted on my lathe on a 6" faceplate and a whole bunch of screws . I have a plan for it if all goes well .
I might even do a little tutorial on that one.
More on that later . . . .

I put a walnut oil, beeswax , carnuba wax finish only on this 8" one.
It doesn't give much of a shine at all . I have had that mixture sitting at the back of the bench in a jar and only tried it once before. It feels rather waxy to the touch. How many coats of that are normally applied and do you power buff it after a certain curing period or just leave it as is with a little hand buffing. ?

 

[Chief Hill]

Keeping busy there will. Looks good.

 

[mickr]

Red Oak is not a shiny wood..unless you sand to 12,000 grit or so (or burnish)...some waxes shine more than others...but it is an eating bowl..so a light shine is appropriate...looks ok to me, tho I generally don't like oak as an eating bowl because of the large pores...

 

[Mrs Rojo22]

Very nice!

Robin

 

[W.Y.]

Red Oak is not a shiny wood..unless you sand to 12,000 grit or so (or burnish)...some waxes shine more than others...but it is an eating bowl..so a light shine is appropriate...looks ok to me, tho I generally don't like oak as an eating bowl because of the large pores...

12000 MM is fine for pens but no way am I going to sand bowls to 12000 MM and I don't know of anyone else that does. .

I don't know of anyone that atually eats from wooden bowls in this fast paced age of dishwashers etc but maybe there still are a few.
Most of my bowls are used for whole fruit and candies in wrappers and such on coffee tables . Many people like oak bowls to match their oak coffee tables and prefer the open grain rather than using a filler . .

I have tried many home brew concoctions for finishes over the years but non come close to the maufactured ones that are made by ones that arn't saying what all is in them and in what proportions.
I am working on a 16" piece now and on it I am using Watco oil which has worked very well in the past.