Black Walnut bowl with a knot and overhanging rim

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Its one of my favourites. Not that tough to work with, great colour, a bit stinky.

a few years ago i had stacks of fresh maple, apple, cedar and people offering more.
to my chagrin, i was turning down offers of more free wood.

so a buddy calls, saying he just cut down a tree. Do i want any wood?
"nope, no and no. Got way too much. Cant take any more"

"its black walnut?!?!?"
"ok....i'll be right over...."

Thanks Olaf for commenting, What I actually meant with this "yes good looking wood, some more so than other” , ​is that all Black Walnut is not made equal, this piece has a real continues dark color, where other Black Walnut can have a more greyish sheen to it, or different colors between the year-rings, also how it turns is all over the map, usually has to do with how fast it grew and its exposure so it grew all equally and not much more on one side than the other, etc.

Too much wood I know about also, however I always tried to rough turn all that wood right away, didn’t always succeed, as sometimes there was this special wood that I hardly ever could lay my hands on, and so took it even when I didn’t/shouldn’t, but usually got that done before the wood started do degrade.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Really wonderful. Is that rim undercut? I think that finish is just perfect.

Thanks Prashun , no the rim is not undercut, as I am afraid it would lead to a fragile rim incase it was ever dropped

[Jamie Straw]

Thanks Jamie , it takes a few things to get there Jamie, sharp tools and a light touch to cut without bruising the wood or getting tearout, easily done with Walnut as it isn’t a hard dense wood.

Smooth curves and good sanding and you have won most of the battle

The "good sanding" has been a brick wall. I have a whole thread going at AAW about power sanding (perhaps should start one here?) but the last two bowls I've done (Madrona, Chestnut) I had to go back to the first grit and go all the way through hand-sanding, still not happy with them. I've turned spindle projects with walnut, but haven't tried a bowl yet. Looking forward to it though, I love walnut.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The "good sanding" has been a brick wall. I have a whole thread going at AAW about power sanding (perhaps should start one here?) but the last two bowls I've done (Madrona, Chestnut) I had to go back to the first grit and go all the way through hand-sanding, still not happy with them. I've turned spindle projects with walnut, but haven't tried a bowl yet. Looking forward to it though, I love walnut.

Thanks Jamie , sanding doesn’t reverse the mistakes made while turning, like a gouge heel crushing the grain, very hard if not impossible to sand away, and that is easier done than you’d think, grinding the heel round on your bowl gouge goes a long way to prevent this from happening.

Though as I said before, Walnut isn’t the most forgiving wood to turn.

[Tom Albrecht]

What is the finish you used?

Is the bottom signature circle unfinished?

[Chris Gunsolley]

This Black Walnut bowl has quite nice wood, but that dark wood is a bear to get decent pictures from, the dark color just eats the light and so you need a lot to show it, reflexion then becomes a problem.

I made some pictures with lights inside but didn’t think they showed the wood well.

This is as good as I could get it with natural light outside, in the shade on a sunny day, you can really see the difference in the pictures from underneath the bowl/rim, where the wood looks quite different in these pictures, even though nothing changed other than the shading from the bowl itself.

I turned a wider round rim on this one, and is about 11” X 3 1/2", there is a solid knot in it that shrunk enough to pull slightly loose from the surrounding wood, filled that line with CA, I like the looks of it

Any and all comments welcome

Leo,

Like others, I think that thick, overhanging rim on the bowl is pleasing to look at, and inviting to grab. Brilliant in both visual and functional design.

Would you mind running us through the tools/technique you used to create that rim portion in particular?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

What is the finish you used?

Is the bottom signature circle unfinished?

Tom I use Polymerized Tung oil from Lee Valley, and yes the bottom of the foot is finished as well as all the rest of the bowl.

The photo taking does some tricks with this Black Walnut but here is another one from a different angle

Walnut bottom.jpg

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo,

Like others, I think that thick, overhanging rim on the bowl is pleasing to look at, and inviting to grab. Brilliant in both visual and functional design.

Would you mind running us through the tools/technique you used to create that rim portion in particular?

Thanks Chris , I used a 1/4” (English measurement) bowl gouge with a conventional grind (My way of grinding it) turning a wider rim is no different than a narrow rim on a bowl, you just have to leave enough wood when shaping the outside, visualize the shape you like to get and then cut the wood, nothing special to it IMO, just some experience

[Tom Albrecht]

Tom I use Polymerized Tung oil from Lee Valley, and yes the bottom of the foot is finished as well as all the rest of the bowl.

The photo taking does some tricks with this Black Walnut but here is another one from a different angle

Walnut bottom.jpg

Well done all around Leo, thanks.

[Chris Gunsolley]

Thanks Daryl , I was glad that I was able to keep the knot from splitting, as that is what usually happens if not prevented.

The log presented this way worked well and yes I’m pleased with the outcome

What did you do to the bowl to keep the knot from splitting?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

What did you do to the bowl to keep the knot from splitting?

Chris I will saturate the knot with thin CA, the more I get in there the better, the CA will harden and prevent the knot from shrinking and thus it will not split, I don’t get a perfect score, but I get pretty close

Knotty White Ash.jpg Knotty Walnut.jpg Knot in Siberian Elm.jpg

This is one I wasn’t able to stop from splitting, and I hate that split in there
Can't win'm all.jpg

[Bill Jobe]

Wow! You did real good.