Below are some pictures of a Sycamore bowl I just finished last night. The wood came from a huge slab that Ron from Drums PA gave when we both attended Bill Grumbine's famous "5 Barns BBQ".
Having never turned Sycamore before, I had no idea what to expect. While I was cutting the slab up into blanks, I got a glimpse of some of the hidden figure. The grain pattern looked like a smaller, tighter version of lacewood! The scraps looked so good, that I cut them up for pen blanks. I call this "the Buffalo treatment". Why? Cause the Plains Indians were said to make use of every scrap from a buffalo hunt! :>)
I found turning Sycamore to be a lot like Beech. When dry, it's somewhat brittle. You need to have your tools well honed to maintain a nice crisp edge. You should also consider sealing the wood before trying to apply a finish. If you don't, you'll get blotches where the end grain has soaked up more of the finish than the face grain. I applied a coat of my home made sanding sealing with is a mixture of 50% mineral spirits and 50% varnish. If this sounds like the same mixture I use to wet sand, you're right. However, I recently purchased a can of Bull's Eye sanding sealer and will try that out on the next several sycamore bowls I have in production. I'll tell you all how I made out.
As you can see, this bowl blank didn't have the spectacular grain pattern that the pen blanks had. So I decided to concentrate on the shape more. I added a small lip, with a burned ring at the rim to give it definition. The base also got a set of concentric burned rings.
Specs:
Outer dia.: 7 3/8"
Height: 2 3/8"
Wall thickness: 1/4"
Base dia.: 3 1/4"
Sanding Method: Dry sanded to 2000 Grit.
Finish: Watco's Danish Oil
Final: Buffed with Beall System
Thanks for viewing!
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