A friend was kind enough to share an 8' X 30" sycamore log with me. The tree was taken down to make room for new construction and had been laying on the ground next to his garage for two years. It was extremely spalted through much of the log. We got bowl blanks as large as 24" across. I have several in the drying process but chose some smaller pieces and cores to complete while I wait for the others to dry. Here are three. The smallest is a 4" x 4 1/2" hollow form with 3/16" thick walls. It's pretty much a conventional shape but has quite a small opening at 5/8". Hollowing was easy because the decaying wood cut easily. It's finished with precat lacquer sanded back to level the finish then brought up with 500 grit through 4000 grit Abralon.
Attachment 241885Spl Sycamore HF 98k.jpg
The next is a closed form I call Fat Bottom Girl. I like lots of different shapes for hollow forms and consider none right or wrong. This one was fun to turn because I could actually see what I was doing inside the bowl. It's shape changed somewhat as it dried but that's natural. It is 6" in diameter.Fat Bottom Girl 121k.jpgIt was also finished with the same process as the hollow form.
The last piece is a calabash bowl, my favorite form despite the difficulty encountered cutting the inside walls cleanly, a process I think I finally got the hang of. This one is 9" in diameter with 1/2" walls. I fought with a knot and some very soft areas when I turned and finished this one. I stabilized all these turnings with shellac as I turned them. I believe the larger bowls will require something more heavy duty when I turn them a second time. Because of the relatively soft areas, I chose to finish this one with poly. It probably took 10 coats to get the surface to be uniform in sheen.
Meanwhile, between the new light set up (no special equipment, just the positioning of them) and the use of Adobe Lightroom to adjust color, it is a treat to post decent pictures. Thanks for looking.
faustSpl Sycamore Calabash 126k.jpg
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