Father and son Oak Burl.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Finished up my largest piece of oak burl today. There were multiple separations of the burl grain that I repaired with a mixture of red and black line chalk blended with 5 minute epoxy which made the mixture brown. It is visible as brown lines in the bottom. The big bowl is 14" across and 5" deep. The small one was cored from the larger so the grain pattern is very similar. The actual turning was straight forward. The smaller is 10" in diameter and 4" deep. Both are finished with Formby's danish oil.


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[brian zawatsky]

Absolutely beautiful wood. Nice work Bob!

[Dok Yager]

Wow thats some kind of nice coloration in those bowls. Nice work Bob. I like that you saved as much of the natural edge as you could.

[Tom Albrecht]

That's beautiful-- thanks for sharing it. I hope to do something like that someday.

Where did you get a burl that size?

[David Delo]

Nice save on this one Bob. Very pretty piece of burl.

[Bob Bergstrom]

That's beautiful-- thanks for sharing it. I hope to do something like that someday.

Where did you get a burl that size?

Tom, this is one of 5 bowls from a large red oak. Myself and two Windy City Woodturnerss cut up a 5' by 26" log. Each one of us took home some sizable blanks. I cored my two large pieces and ended up with 6 bowls. I lost one on when I forgot to turn on the vacuum pump and released pressure on the tail stock. Needless to say it wasn't repairable.

[David Delo]

I forgot to turn on the vacuum pump and released pressure on the tail stock.

Been there.....done that!!

[Prashun Patel]

Beautiful. I have some oak burl that I have not started on. How was your experience turning it?

[Bob Bergstrom]

Beautiful. I have some oak burl that I have not started on. How was your experience turning it?

If all wood grew as burls turning and sanding would be a whole lot easier. The grain is uniform all the way around so no long grain short grain. Oak is hard and may chip small flakes out, but if tools are sharpe and properly applied it will cut nicely. These bowls did not warp so sanding was easy except for repairing the separation areas of the burl layers.