"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Kevin" wrote: I have a piece of black walnut that has pretty much dried
out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It would have been better to turn it before it dried. Bark separation is
caused by drying shrinkage. If there are open gaps between the bark and
the wood, theymay be hard to control with C/A glue. Too late for that
now. But, since the wood seems to be pretty dry, there is no penalty for
waiting even longer.

He speaks the truth. You can still give it the college try by starting to
stuff CA in as you approach the outside rim dimensions. Thin first, so that
it runs into unseen places, then a tad of thick and dust or chips of
sub-bark into places where it's pulled away. If you're like me, and sell
the things, you'll want to soak CA into the bark to keep it from breaking
away much as it's handled.


Since you're new to this, I want to point out something I learned the hard
way. UNIFORM WALL THICKNESS is far more critical on natural edge bowls.
Any variation in thickness will show up as variations in the width of the
edge.

Go to it, and keep us posted. WEAR A FACE SHIELD.

The uniform wall thickness isn't all it seems. What appear to be
"variations in the width of the edge" are often just a result of the
changing angle as you deepen the bowl. If you chase it as a visual cue
only, you'll end up with some pretty thin stuff down low. Never was a
critical thing to get the walls of a turning thin or even uniform, so do
what looks and feels right.

Generally speaking, if you've got nice thick bark like willow or elm you can
cut through at a steep angle and get good display. Thinner stuff like
cherry or some maples wants to be cut a bit broader to show the bark off.

If it doesn't stay, you can clean it up and blacken the edge, wire brush it,
or even (shudder) color it. Stuff like spalt generally will keep you from
holding bark no matter how you try.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...tmate-Dish.jpg

Don't think that barkside up is the only way to do an interrupted edge.
Sometimes the unnatural edge of a split can be attractive, too.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...rofile-Oil.jpg