Monday, March 18, 2013

From Board To Bowl

Being married to a woodworker has taught me to see the beauty in a raw piece of wood. I've learned that messy tearout on a board often means a beautiful curly or flamed figure. I've learned that (some) woods with blah color are totally transformed with a bit of finish that makes the grain pop.

I thought you might like to see part of the process from a board to a bowl.

The process starts, of course, with acquiring wood. In this case, the Oregon black walnut board came from Goby Walnut, one of Scott's favorite local suppliers.

As a first step to making solid wood bowls, after studying the board, Scott pencils out the rounds for bowls.


One of the things I like best about black walnut is the wide variation in coloring and grain pattern. They're beautiful as raw wood, but a little bit of finish makes them even more gorgeous.  

He tries to capture some of the color, grain and other features that make every board unique so that they're well placed for the bowls the board will become.

And they're quickly transformed from circles drawn on a board to roughed out bowls:



And just like that, they're ready for turning on the lathe. Below is one of the bowl blanks that's been shaped on both the outside and the inside, next to one that has been shaped on the outside and is ready for being hollowed out.


Next comes sanding, more sanding and then a little more sanding, and then some finish. Scott's been using Salad Bowl Finish lately on his solid bowls.

And here's one of his recently completed Oregon black walnut bowls, finished and ready for sale in our Etsy shop:



Keep an eye out for more to be available soon!
 

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