Possibly Cherry Bowl

[Misa]

My woodturning tutor has been clearing out his wood store at home and found a load of... possibly cherry wood? No one was quite sure. It looks like cherry, but it smelt weird when turned - sort of like Plasticine with a hint of aniseed. Very, very odd.

But it turned like a dream and resulted in this little bowl, of which I'm inordinately proud. This is the culmination of 18 hours (ish) of turning over the space of 9 weeks. I'm now looking to set up a little workshop at home!

[Les Symonds]

Hello Misa....and welcome to the world of woodturning. It's great that you've had tuition and well done with the bowl. However, we can be sure of one thing, that is definitely not cherry. The annual rings are too broad, there's insufficient variation between sapwood and heartwood, the colour is far too pale and the bark is the wrong type completely. My guess is that you've got a softwood, and possibly hemlock, although it's far from easy to say without close inspection. Hemlock would certainly give you the smell that you mentioned. I've attached a picture of a cherry-wood bowl for you to see the difference.

Your first bowl is always a major milestone in your new hobby. Keep it and treasure it, and examine it closely for any aspects that you feel that you can improve on in the future. Identify and work on each aspect, one at a time.

Les

[John Plater]

Good comments from Les ! Possibly a type of cypress, very similar to some I turned last year.
ATB John

[Bryan Milham]

And the woodturning bug bites another unsuspecting person.

A good start, keep it and look back on it in a few years and see how you've developed as a turner.

Good to have you on-board Misa, It'll be a bumpy but enjoyable ride. And the effort is well worth it.

Looking forward to your next post.

[Misa]

Thanks everyone.