Silver Maple. Length: 15 1/4″ Width: 5 5/8″ Height: 2 3/4″ Finish: food safe flaxseed oil.
A neighbor is removing some maple trees that are too close to his house for comfort. This bowl is from the first log I carried away, originally a primary branch about 8″ in diameter and 20″ long. Thanks, Gerry, for the logs.
Every project is a learning experience. I have to thank David Fisher’s video series of bowl carving instruction on the Fine Woodworking site for his teaching.
Since it was a first project, I was timid about taking photos of the process. It could have easily ended up as firewood, and why waste the pixels on that? Oh, I forgot: pixels don’t cost nearly as much as film used to. 🙂
Lesson: David Fisher advises that the pith should always be removed. His reasoning is to avoid splitting and checking problems due to the pith moving at a different rate than surrounding fiber. In this case, I had to flatten the bottom numerous times as the pith was squeezed and bulged out. It’s still not absolutely flat, but in no danger of toppling over.
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