Butternut bowls

[Robert Willing]

Thom

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

[Thom Sturgill]

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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....

Thom

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

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

[allen thunem]

where does one find butternut??

[John Keeton]

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.

[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.

[Thom Sturgill]

where does one find butternut??

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

[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.

[Thom Sturgill]

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.

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..

[Thom Sturgill]

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.

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

[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.

[Thom Sturgill]

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.

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.

[David Delo]

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..

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???

[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.

[Thom Sturgill]

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???

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.

[Thom Sturgill]

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.

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.