Maple Salad Bowl

[Steve Doerr]

This piece of soft maple came from the childhood home of a good friend of mine that is a potter. It is 11 1/2" W x 3 3/8" H. It is a piece of wood that came from one of the crouches of the tree and has some non-black line spalting. It also has a small bit of turquoise on the inside of the bowl and a larger area on the outside of the bowl. This is one of my favorite salad bowl turnings. C&C welcomed.
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[daryl moses]

Very nice Steve. It's always great to make something out of wood that has some meaning to it.

[Bill Jobe]

Beautiful piece, Steve.
How come none of the wood I drag home looks like that on the inside......aside from the fact that most of it is Osage Orange?

[Harold Balzonia]

Well done! Right in the middle of the piece is the profile of a bearded man looking downward.... fascinating!

im curious on your turquoise technique... do you put the turquoise powder in the void and then overfill the area with ca glue and then turn it (sand it?) flush? Do you use epoxy instead? Or perhaps a combination? I'm looking to add this technique to my repertoire so any education is appreciated.

[Steve Doerr]

Harold, I put the granular turquoise in the hole and pack it in with a dental pick and then add more turquoise to make it just proud of the surface. I then use thin CA to glue it in. Once that is dry I then add a layer of medium CA. This helps fill some of the voids that did not get filled with the thin CA. Once filled I then make my finishing cuts to smooth/blend it in with the wood surface.

If the hole that I'm filling is exceptionally large or deep, I will layer the turquoise and CA it in in layers. That helps ensure a solid gluing of all of the turquoise.

[Steve Doerr]

Thanks everyone. This was definitely an exceptional piece of wood. God does amazing artwork.

[Mel Fulks]

Great piece! But no one has mentioned the cat face at top left ,or the flying bird at lower right!

[William C Rogers]

That is beautiful Steve. Really a great shape to match the wood.

[Richard Dooling]

Great piece! But no one has mentioned the cat face at top left ,or the flying bird at lower right!

Ha! I hadn't noticed that but I see it now!

This really is a very nice piece! The beauty of that particular piece of wood just adds to an outstanding form.

[Pat Scott]

Maria, the finish is an oil finish that I dip my turnings in. It is equal part of BLO, Danish Oil and WOP. After it drys for about four days, I Beall buff. In this case, since it is a salad bowl, I did not try to get a high gloss buff on it.

Steve, beautiful bowl. Certainly a ton of figure in the wood. However I have to comment on your finish.

The oil finish that you are using is a diluted mixture of other diluted finishes. "Danish Oil" is a broad or generic term for a mixture of oil and varnish that is thinned by Mineral Spirits. If you were to mix equal parts of Linseed Oil, Poly, and Mineral Spirits, you just created your own Danish Oil. The oil enhances the grain and figure of the wood but has been thinned by the Mineral Spirits so it soaks into the pores better, Varnish/Poly provides protection but it also has been thinned by Mineral Spirits so it also soaks into the pores instead of building up on the surface, and Mineral Spirits is the carrier that carries the thinned oil and poly into the pores.

Danish Oil = Linseed or Tung Oil (binder)
Varnish (resin)
Mineral Spirits or Naptha (carrier)

WOP is nothing more than Polyurethane that has been diluted with mineral spirits. If you were to take Poly straight from the can and mix it 50/50 with Mineral Spirits you've just created your own WOP.

So what your finish consists of is taking BLO and adding it to a mixture of Danish Oil (that already has thinned oil and poly) and then adding more thinned poly with the WOP. Basically you're mixing Danish Oil with Danish Oil. If you're buying Danish Oil off the shelf, it might have Tung Oil in it instead of BLO.

I'm not trying to bust your chops or anything so please don't take it that way, I'm just trying to explain what Danish Oil is. Also, I'm sure you know it's "crotch" of the tree and not "crouch".

[Steve Doerr]

Pat, thanks for the info and no "chops" were busted.

As far as "crouch" vs "crotch"--I guess I just wanted to pounce on that piece of wood before anyone else did :-D. I guess I could also blame it on auto-correct :-o

[Leo Van Der Loo]

This piece of soft maple came from the childhood home of a good friend of mine that is a potter. It is 11 1/2" W x 3 3/8" H. It is a piece of wood that came from one of the crouches of the tree and has some non-black line spalting. It also has a small bit of turquoise on the inside of the bowl and a larger area on the outside of the bowl. This is one of my favorite salad bowl turnings. C&C welcomed.
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Nice one Steve, both the wood and shape are excellent with lots going on in the wood, yes a real nice one.

[mike ash]

My favorite wood for salad bowls! You've done a great job creating a pleasing and functional shape.

[Maria Alvarado]

Beautiful bowl, what finish did you use?

[Steve Doerr]

Maria, the finish is an oil finish that I dip my turnings in. It is equal part of BLO, Danish Oil and WOP. After it drys for about four days, I Beall buff. In this case, since it is a salad bowl, I did not try to get a high gloss buff on it.