On 12/24/2012 07:06 AM, Tom Dougall wrote:
Thanks kevin for the other pics, very nice work. Where I come from the
largest Rowan logs I've seen are about 6 inches diameter. They crack
very easy and they are mostly heart wood which is a lovely red colour.

This means of course that every bowl has the pith still in the middle of
the bottom.
A bowl just waiting to develop a crack. I have given up trying now
and I'm very jealous of your success.

Slice the log down the middle lengthwise rather than turning it so the
pith is in the bottom. You'll probably only get about a 5" bowl out of
it, but that will eliminate the pith and any complete growth rings.
After you've roughed it out, paint the end grain with end grain sealer,
or a couple coats of latex paint then put it in a paper sack and store
it in a cool place for a couple months. That usually works pretty well
for me.

Also, for larger bowls, I'll stick a piece of wood perpendicular to the
grain in the bowl. As it shrinks, the piece of wood prevents the bowl
from deforming quite as badly and helps minimize the cracking...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller - http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
In a recent survey, 7 out of 10 hard drives preferred Linux
Registered Linux User No: 307357, http://linuxcounter.net