Winged and wormy - alder burr bowl

[Les Symonds]

I finished turning this a few weeks ago, but it's been oiled and drying several times since and I finally decided to buff it this morning, with Tripoli/White diamond and Micr-crystaline. It's out of an alder burr that was still on a short length of a slab, overall length of the slab about 15" and the bowl about 11" outside diameter x 4" overall height. The wood was dry and a bit punky in places, giving loads of dust but not too many shavings, so I rough turned it to about 1/16 over sized, then painted it liberally with wood hardener and left it overnight. The next day it didn't cut very cleanly off the gouge, but scraped really well with a pair of big, heavy scrapers. I really didn't think that any worms still in the wood could have lived through that, but a couple came wriggling out after I'd finished it, so it was doused in worm treatment, left overnight and then re-sanded the next day. Once again, I left it to stand and a huge worm appeared, so I guess that the worm treatment got the last of them.

It's had four coats of thinned Danish Oil - thinned because I didn't want to fill too many of the worm-holes up, and I might well build up a couple more coats of MC wax on it as the days go by.











C&C always welcome....Les

[rick_dobney]

Hi Les,

Looks like a challenging piece....it's always rewarding to make something from what many would throw on the fire. There's some lovely character and figuring in the wood.

Personally I like to keep worms out of the workshop and certainly out of the house so would want to be 100% sure there's no wildlife left in the piece. What woodworm killer do you use as I've found some can taint the wood?

I presume the top wing was hand sanded before the bead was turned at the rim, otherwise you'd have created a flat on the bead.
From a design and form point of view, if the rim of the bowl was raised slightly above the top of the wing, even by the diameter of the bead then in my opinion it'd be more striking, clearly this makes finishing the piece even harder; I'd also say that in my opinion the wing looks a little thick when viewed side on...from the photo I'd guess around 12 to 15mm

Nice piece though....well salvaged.

Cheers
Rick

[Les Symonds]

What woodworm killer do you use as I've found some can taint the wood?...

Cuprinol

I presume the top wing was hand sanded before the bead was turned at the rim, otherwise you'd have created a flat on the bead.
From a design and form point of view, if the rim of the bowl was raised slightly above the top of the wing, even by the diameter of the bead then in my opinion it'd be more striking, clearly this makes finishing the piece even harder; I'd also say that in my opinion the wing looks a little thick when viewed side on...from the photo I'd guess around 12 to 15mm....

Hi Rick. I had planned to raise the bead on the bowl, as I fancied the idea of it looking as though the bowl projected up through the board, but 2 things stopped me from doing that. the first was some deep chain-saw marks that I hadn't taken into account when I shaped the underside. Once I'd turned it over and skimmed the top down to a clean surface, all that was left was the 12mm that you see now. I did consider going thinner, but the wormy corner on the wing was getting flexible and I doubt that I could have saved it if it were any thinner. The compromise was the bead that I cut to give the impression of the raised rim.

Les

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Hi Les, a few short bursts in the microwave ensures that any worm left in the wood is cooked worm so no chance of crawling out. Nice piece.

[Les Symonds]

Hi Les, a few short bursts in the microwave ensures that any worm left in the wood is cooked worm so no chance of crawling out. Nice piece.

Yep....but it's too big for my workshop micro-wave oven!

[bodrighywood]

Lovely piece Les, mind I may be biased because of the state of the wood LOL.

Pete

[Mark Sanger]

Like this very much.

[Graham]

I have to tell you that as the chief exec of the Association of Worms in Good Burr ( otherwise known as that AWGB ) I am taking a dim view of the way this thread is going.

[Bryan Milham]

I saw the pictures before reading your text. I was going to say nice to see a lived in piece wood, and I hope you've evicted all the old tenants, but then I was you've done just that.

So I'll just add it's well balanced in it's design and has a great finish.

[Les Symonds]

I have to tell you that as the chief exec of the Association of Worms in Good Burr ( otherwise known as that AWGB ) I am taking a dim view of the way this thread is going.

Well, Graham, I have to inform you that as the self appointed President of the Accreditation of Woodturners as Grub Busters (AWGB), I have every right to blitz those nits, to squirm those worms and to slug those bugs. 

Les

[Graham]

 

[GBF]

Very nice Les Alder is a very nice wood.

Regards George

[Eric Harvey]

looks good from here,nice bowl shape nice flat wing and I like the bead on the rim,the thickness of the rim is down to the beholder i think,some will like it thinner,punters will think their getting more for their money no doubt though.

TBHT,where do you get your microwaves,the one I have won`t fit a 15" piece of wood.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I found one in the kitchen Eric.......seems to do the job alright. Of course I can only use it when the better half is not around!!

[edbanger]

Great looking piece as always Les, but don't kill the worms they will add more character over time

Ed