CTWOODESIGN by Chris Thompson
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Birth of a Bowl


Part of the fun of wood turning, for me, is acquiring the wood.  I have been known to drive around after a storm with my trusty Husqvarna chain saw in the trunk of the car looking for downed tree.  Not just any tree, or any part of a tree is desirable.  Burls from any tree a like gold to a wood turner.  What is a burl?  Glad you asked . . . A burl is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds and has the most beautiful and interesting grain patterns.  The next desirable piece of a tree is a crotch, where a tree splits in to two or more directions.  This section will usually have interesting grain patterns-not as interesting as a burl-but sometimes you can't be picky.  If it's really nice wood, like cherry, spalted maple or hickory, a plain old slice off the truck or large branch is great.

Anyway, back to acquiring wood . . . I'll stop when I see a tree service working on something interesting and they are usually nice and cut me a piece, especially Blackhawk Tree Service and JD Tree Pros.  Occasionally I find a hunk of wood left on the driveway by a friend who knows what I am looking for.  Now on to this particular piece of wood we go to Connecticut.  Well, I don't go there, but my sister lives there and had one of there very old trees come down in a storm.  She sent me pictures asking if I was interested in some of what had fallen.  Not only did she save me a piece, they brought it to me when they came down for her husband's daughter's wedding in Charlotte.  It really was quite a sight: two adults, three children, luggage and a maple tree crotch all packed into the small Honda.  Thank-you Beth, Lee, Zoe, Owen and Thali, I really appreciate it!

So, here is what I do when I get a some wood to turn . . .


This turning starts with the wood on a faceplate, I do the rough turning trying to get the basic shape set. Then on what will be the bottom of the bowl, I turn either a tenon or recess to be griped by my 4-jaw chuck.  This process is call "reverse-chucking" because you mount the wood one way, then reverse it to finish.  In the time lapse there are a few pauses as I try to get out a screw that broke off from mounting the faceplate. 

The bowl now sits in a bag full of wood chips slowly drying; it will take a month or two before I do the final turning and finishing and send it off to my sister, so I will be adding more to the slide show as I finish this work in progress.

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