Mulberry platter

[Nathan Hawkes]

Here's an 8" dia. x 1.75" tall mulberry platter; I turned this a couple months ago, but just got around to putting a finish on it recently. Its got a bit of burl in it, but not nearly as much as the surface of the log suggested. Oh well. I guess I turned most of the burl figure away. I sanded it to 400, then coated and wet sanded it with BLO to pop out the figure in the wood, then antique oil, followed by several coats of paste wax.

[curtis rosche]

nice. i love to turn that stuff, like butter. i dont know what causes it but after a year or so that will turn a light brownish golden color. where did you find a peice that big?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nathan - that's a good looking platter! Love the grain pattern! Nice work!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nathan that is a great piece with some great grain patterns.

[Keith Burns]

Great platter Nathan with a surperb finish !

[Nathan Hawkes]

nice. i love to turn that stuff, like butter. i dont know what causes it but after a year or so that will turn a light brownish golden color. where did you find a peice that big?

Yeah, it turns great but it gets really hard when its dry. If you keep it out of the light, it does okay. I turned a little goblet for my girlfriend's daughter that is already quite brown, but it is in a very sunny room. I gave several away as gifts to family last christmas that are still very yellow, but I told them to keep them out of sunlight if possible. This tree was pretty big; the center was rotten, as the tree was dying, but it produced a huge amount of firewood and a large number of good turning blanks. FYI; mulberry pops a lot when burning, so its not good for a fireplace. I looked up the BTU output, and it is about the same as oak!!!! Heavy stuff for sure. I have a few blanks left that are 12" or so. I'll post them when I turn them....

[curtis rosche]

because of how nice this wood turns color, you ought to play with it, put a sticker or pattern on the wood to cover part of it, then put in the sun, lemove the stickers so that the wood is different colors, that would look neat

[Nathan Hawkes]

I might try that sometime. The thing is, it would all melt together eventually. The ends of the logs I didn't seal (those I used for firewood) turned VERY brown; almost the color of very aged cherry; kinda red. I wonder if perhaps oxygen also has something to do with it. I know with wood dyes, some are UV resistant, and some fade very quickly, I don't know if there is a UV protector that is clear.