B.O.W.L. not B.U.R.L.

[Hal Taft]

Fortunately I've run out of burls and can go back to turning "normal" things. We'll not be discussing burls for now.

This is a bowl turned from a spalted crotch log, from a friend's woodpile, best guess is chestnut. Very tough stuff, whatever it is. I had to sharpen my scraper every 15 min. I think I lost an 1/8" off the thing. I hope it shows up well in the pictures, there's a beautiful flame where the spalting ends. Dimensions 4"x 11"x 3/16" , finished with wipe-on varnish.

[Mark Hix]

I really like the form and the rim. The shape just tells me to pick it up. Nice job.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Hal - that's quite the bowl! Beautiful wood! I have to guess it's Chestnut or Oak - going by the rays. Great form! Really like the rim area and the undercut!

Thanks for sharing!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hal that is a beauty and out of some beautiful wood. Great form.

[Russ Sears]

Beautiful bowl. I'm about 99% sure that's red oak.

[Duff Bement]

Now thats a bowl. Nothing ordinary about it. Thanks for sharing.

[Hal Taft]

Russ,
It has a lot in common with red oak, but there's little dark flecks throughout the wood that I've only seen before in chestnut. My house is a chestnut barn, and I'm pretty used to it. Also, the bark on the raw log was wrong for oak. I'm not sure, but I thought hickory also has dark flecks, but I've never seen any that weren't kitchen spoons. I have one more piece, maybe I'll get around to posting a picture, and the bark experts can clear it up.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Hal, nice Oak bowl you have there, I just checked my Romeyn Beck Hought woodbook again to make sure, and I'm quite sure you do not have American Chestnut there, but some Oak, I'm not sure what Oak it is, could very well be Red Oak.
The Chestnut has nowhere near as prominent rays as your wood shows.
Still a nice bowl you made.

[Hal Taft]

Leo and Russ,
I don't dismiss your opinions, so Monday (the remaining pieces are at work) I'm going to take some long grain and bark pictures and post them. I'm thinking all the end grain and crotch grain in the piece are obscuring ID. The reservation I have is I've worked with a lot of red oak in my career, and this is presenting very differently to me. Thanks for your input.

[Hal Taft]

Weighing all the evidence, Russ and Leo win the day. I compared endgrain slices and flatgrain of my log and commercial red oak, and they're so close as makes no difference. I think the spalting affected the color enough to distract me. Good eye, gentlemen.