Butternut bowls

At a recent 'Art in Wood' event I picked up a piece of dry butternut that was about 8" x 16" by 3 1/2" and cut two bowl blanks from it. The pith had been maybe 1/2"-3/4" from the surface and well centered on the blanks. As an experiment I turned a bowl in each orientation (pith at top and pith at bottom).

For those who have never turned butternut, this stuff tears out as bad as any punky, spalted wood I have ever turned. I definitely had to break out the 80 grit gouge! :eek: :mad: Like well spalted wood, the appearance made it worth while or the second bowl would not have been turned.
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Turned pith at top, notice the rays inside the bowl and the pattern in the bottom. Middle picture shows some of the chatoyance the wood displays.

This is the second bowl, turned pith down. Sorry but I had a bit of focus problems on these.
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Notice the totally different grain pattern. Rays are not as pronounced on the inside and I got just a bit of sap wood showing. Still good chatoyance. This was turned with a recess that has not been removed, though I may still put it in a vacuum chuck and remove the signs of the recess.

Both bowls are finished with Walnut oil on the inside for a nice satin finish and lacquer on the outside. This bowl was lacquer over lacquer sanding sealer and the other was lacquer over shellac over walnut oil used during sanding. The pictures do not show the bases well. This one has a slight recurve while the other does not.

That is some stunning grain in the first one. I like both!

I'm trying to hone my photography skills and have a question: On the 2nd bowl, did you minimize the depth of field on purpose to highlight the front?

Great job with really nice looking wood. You have the orientation just right to display the grain. I agree about the tear out issue with butternut. I have a bunch of 4 inch thick kiln dried butternut that has been in my garage for 20 years. It is easy to work, but the tear out is ridiculous. Back when I was carving decorative decoys we could get 4 by 6 to 9 inch by 8 feet butternut from a local kiln operation for $25.

Thom - these butternut bowls are beautiful. I really like the grain/rays on the first one with the beading. What tool did you use for the beading? (I haven't had the guts yet to try beading on a bowl)


Thanks,

Mike

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'll try to answer your questions:

Mike, I used one of Dave's beading tools and a lot of sanding! I really like his beaders.

Prashun, no it was actually a focusing issue. I try to focus mid-bowl but I think my eye just picked up the rim. I shot these indoors, but usually use morning sunlight outside. These pictures were lighted with an LED Ottlight my D-I-L has. I use GIMP to crop and set white levels. I had to go back and scale most of these to get SMC to allow me to upload them.

Paul, that's what I paid for this billet.

Nice work on both Thom! The first one......the grain highlights remind me of sun rays shining through clouds.........this is just a beauty of a bowl! Looks like your efforts are rewarded. I have never had the chance to turn butternut, but since seeing these, if I ever get a chance at a good piece, I will surely take it!

I only got a few pieces of Butternut once. The spiderweb type grain pattern in the first pieces is typical of branches. I loved it. Oh yes, it does turn fuzzy no matter what you do.

robo hippy

Nice bowls, Thom!!

I love turning butternut - such a warm color with an oil finish. I have found that using a shearing approach with a sharp scraper really helps get a good surface on it.

Nice forms and beautiful grain patterns. I never knew butternut looked this good. The results are worth some extra sanding, and I HATE sanding!

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Originally Posted by Jon Nuckles

... The results are worth some extra sanding, and I HATE sanding!

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Amen to that.

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Originally Posted by John Keeton

Nice bowls, Thom!!

I love turning butternut - such a warm color with an oil finish. I have found that using a shearing approach with a sharp scraper really helps get a good surface on it.

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I think I tried every trick in the book. Shear cutting with my D-Way gouge (freshly sharpened) did get the best surface, but even that left enough tear-out to need heavy sanding. I generally pride myself on being able to get a clean cut.

That's beautiful wood and you did a great job with the turnings. I like the beads. D-way beading tools are great tools

Like your results with the pith on top a tad better but both are just beautiful. Certainly worth the time for these 2 pieces. Nice work Thom.

Thom, grain orientation in the top one is most appealing to me but both are great looking bowls. Never turned any and just now found out it was in the walnut family and sometimes referred to as white walnut.

Thom

That first bowl first photo the grain is stunning, great job. The grain almost looks like a sea shell.

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Originally Posted by Eric Gourieux

That's beautiful wood and you did a great job with the turnings. I like the beads. D-way beading tools are great tools

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Thanks Eric, I love them. I have two and plan on buying the others eventually. With the miniatures I do I would love to get a r-e-a-l-l-y small one, but the 1/16" might do the trick.

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Originally Posted by David Delo

Like your results with the pith on top a tad better but both are just beautiful. Certainly worth the time for these 2 pieces. Nice work Thom.

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Thanks David, SWMBO really like that one too and the DIL says she lusts for it...

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Originally Posted by Hayes Rutherford

Thom, grain orientation in the top one is most appealing to me but both are great looking bowls. Never turned any and just now found out it was in the walnut family and sometimes referred to as white walnut.

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Thanks Hayes, I first became interested in the wood when I saw a shaker cabinet made from it. I wanted to make a desk from it, but gave up flatwork when I discovered turning....

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Originally Posted by Robert Willing

Thom

That first bowl first photo the grain is stunning, great job. The grain almost looks like a sea shell.

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Thanks, Robert. It almost made me decide to do both that way, but the teacher in me wanted both examples.

where does one find butternut??

Well, not in CO!! It's range is northern TN north to the Great Lakes and stopping at Maine. It goes just about half a state west of the Mississippi River. However, it is getting scarce. I generally buy it when I see it. There is a lumber yard here that has some spindle stock in 3x3 and I think 4x4. The price is cheap, but I doubt they will have any more after this is gone.

Now those are just sharp. Even if the wood were plain the shape of the bowls is just right to my eyes. The beauty of the butternut just adds to it. Very impressive work.

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Originally Posted by allen thunem

where does one find butternut??

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Allen, I got mine at a show that was primarily wood carvers. Several of the vendors had butternut as the carvers love it.

Very nice job on both of those Thom! Growing up we always called it white walnut and that is what most around here still call it.

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Originally Posted by Adam Petersen

Now those are just sharp. Even if the wood were plain the shape of the bowls is just right to my eyes. The beauty of the butternut just adds to it. Very impressive work.

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Thanks Adam. After turning a bunch of miniatures I just had to do some 'normal' turning. Always strive for the best you can do. I wanted the bowls to be 'users' even if I know they won't be. That's why the inside finish is oil and the bases fairly large. If I were making strictly 'art' pieces the bases would have been smaller.

This was a new wood to me, so I experimented with grain orientation, but as I said, the billet was cut perfectly to get blanks from it. Its nice when you get to look over a table full of wood to pick out a piece to turn and the grain turns out as spectacular as this..

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Originally Posted by Sid Matheny

Very nice job on both of those Thom! Growing up we always called it white walnut and that is what most around here still call it.

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Thanks Sid. I knew the name 'white walnut' from the first references to it that I saw - a book on shaker furniture.

Beautiful bowls Thom. The growth rings work very well. It is a shame we can't see the chatoyance they have. Butternut can really glow. I made picture frames from wormy butternut and would love to see a bowl with worm holes. I agree, it is soft stuff. I would imagine the dust factor wasn't fun either.

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Originally Posted by Bob Bergstrom

Beautiful bowls Thom. The growth rings work very well. It is a shame we can't see the chatoyance they have. Butternut can really glow. I made picture frames from wormy butternut and would love to see a bowl with worm holes. I agree, it is soft stuff. I would imagine the dust factor wasn't fun either.

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Thanks Bob, the chatoyance does show in the glow on the insides. These are just oil finished on the inside, so that is NOT normal reflected light. I carefully rotated the bowls to make sure that I could catch that in at least one shot per bowl. I agree that you would need video to really see the flash though. Maybe one day.

The dust factor was definitely an issue. I have a Trend Air Shield (older model not the PRO) that I do not wear as often as I should. I definitely wore it while sanding these.

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Originally Posted by Thom Sturgill

Thanks Adam. After turning a bunch of miniatures I just had to do some 'normal' turning. Always strive for the best you can do. I wanted the bowls to be 'users' even if I know they won't be. That's why the inside finish is oil and the bases fairly large. If I were making strictly 'art' pieces the bases would have been smaller. This was a new wood to me, so I experimented with grain orientation, but as I said, the billet was cut perfectly to get blanks from it. Its nice when you get to look over a table full of wood to pick out a piece to turn and the grain turns out as spectacular as this..

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I wanted to rib you a little bit about what was up with you doing normal sized stuff but didn't want to take away from how nice your pieces turned out. So what's it like not having to use a magnifying lense to turn with???

Both Very nice bowls Thom. The first one has some gorgeous grain to it and the second one is no slouch. The only two pieces of butternut I have tried were punky and turned difficultly. The results are amazing. Love the beading you used very nice feature.

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Originally Posted by David Delo

I wanted to rib you a little bit about what was up with you doing normal sized stuff but didn't want to take away from how nice your pieces turned out. So what's it like not having to use a magnifying lense to turn with???

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Surprisingly, I do not use magnifiers while turning miniatures. I'm slightly near-sighted, so that helps, and I use plenty of light!
The miniatures are something new for me, and the two 'Dinner' sets and a few hats (one of which is now hanging on the chair in 'Dinner for Two') are about it so far. I have been looking to buy a lathe specifically for miniature and have been comtemplating the Proxxon lathe.

These are about as big as I turn, I've done a couple of 12" chip and dip bowls and a handful of 10" bowls, but most have been 6-8" size. HFs about the same - a couple of 10" x 12-14" tall and the rest 6" diameter or smaller. And a number of goblets - maybe 20 - I've lost count.

SWMBO wants a family salad bowl with about six matching bowls. The family bowl will be my biggest when I turn it. Still looking for the right piece of wood.

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Originally Posted by Dok Yager

Both Very nice bowls Thom. The first one has some gorgeous grain to it and the second one is no slouch. The only two pieces of butternut I have tried were punky and turned difficultly. The results are amazing. Love the beading you used very nice feature.

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Thanks, Dok. These were not punky, but they might as well have been! I like to do the beading or some edge decoration, band, etc on user bowls to give a better grip. On plain woods, a band gives an area to burn or carve a design. An Ogee rim works too, though I have yet to try one.

Prettiest butternut pieces I've ever seen--very nice. Have you ever tried hardening the wood. That's the only way I can turn soft or punky wood.

Gorgeous bowls. I've never turned butternut ... sorry to hear it's such a pain but clearly the results were worth it

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Originally Posted by robert baccus

Prettiest butternut pieces I've ever seen--very nice. Have you ever tried hardening the wood. That's the only way I can turn soft or punky wood.

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Thanks, Robert. Rubbing with the walnut oil seemed to help some on the insides and may have he;ped make the grain stand out. I used the lacquer sanding sealer on the outside of the second bowl prior to the last pass. That helped more, but I should have thinned it more to get better penetration.

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Originally Posted by Paul Hinds

Gorgeous bowls. I've never turned butternut ... sorry to hear it's such a pain but clearly the results were worth it

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Thanks, Paul. I agree. I think I will leave any more butternut tothe wife for carving though.

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Originally Posted by Thom Sturgill

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'll try to answer your questions:

Mike, I used one of Dave's beading tools and a lot of sanding! I really like his beaders.

Prashun, no it was actually a focusing issue. I try to focus mid-bowl but I think my eye just picked up the rim. I shot these indoors, but usually use morning sunlight outside. These pictures were lighted with an LED Ottlight my D-I-L has. I use GIMP to crop and set white levels. I had to go back and scale most of these to get SMC to allow me to upload them.

Paul, that's what I paid for this billet.

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Thanks - those beaders look interesting. I watched the videos and Dave has mastered hand/tool control.

Mike

Very nice bowls Thom! I especially like the grain pattern shown on the first picture. You sure did a nice job on the beads, I think three look very attractive.

You might try thinned 2 part epoxy or poly resin(fiberglass resins) thinned with acetone. Rough out the form and soak in a vinyl bag --play shake & bake. Next day it turns like new wood with no color change. An old boat rebuilding trick. I'm sure I could turn a roll of toilet paper done this way.This has worked on a dozen spalt and palm pieces for me. There is a commercial version called Git Rot.

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Originally Posted by robert baccus

You might try thinned 2 part epoxy or poly resin(fiberglass resins) thinned with acetone.

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Acetone for the 2 part epoxy too? I have not had any luck thinning that stuff in the past, which is why I have used thinned lacquer sanding sealer.

I use the bulk marine stuff for this in epoxy. Poly resin is cheaper--just look for a clear product and like you say,thin generously for penetration. I also use thinned lacquer for semi-punky wood as it is stronger than SS.

Those are great bowls!...The first one is my favorite. No matter what it took to get them finished, it was well worth it!...Great job!