Hope everyone is having a really nice end of the world. It looks an
awful like like normal to me, but hey, what do I know? Um, bowls. I
know bowls. So here's a couple of shots of one I just finished the
other day - Mountain Ash, finish is Formby's Tung Oil Finish. About
11" in diameter. Enjoy..

....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

Nice bowls Kevin, the Mountain ash bowl, - is that the same wood as Rowan
as it is called in Scotland and Mountain ash in England. I was wondering
about the sap wood. in Scotland there is very little sap wood on the rowan
tre and it is mostly red heartwood and not easy to dry as it cracks readily.

Tom

On 12/22/2012 01:43 AM, Tom Dougall wrote:
Nice bowls Kevin, the Mountain ash bowl, - is that the same wood as
Rowan as it is called in Scotland and Mountain ash in England. I was
wondering about the sap wood. in Scotland there is very little sap wood
on the rowan tree and it is mostly red heartwood and not easy to dry as
it cracks readily.

Tom
Yes, it's Rowan. We have several species of Mountain Ash/Rowan here but
two are scrubby and not too common. Most is European Mountain Ash which
was imported as decorative trees in yards. It's "gone native" somewhat
due to birds scattering the berries and such, but you don't find it far
from homes.

Usually the heart wood is more pervasive. It seems to happen in two
ways here. Either almost all the wood is heartwood or just a bit of the
center. This is the only one that I've see with so little heartwood in
a large tree however. I've done lots of little (6") bowls that were
about 50% heartwood. The interesting thing is, when the tree is mostly
heartwood it's never the dark chocolate color - just a tan. Don't know why.

Hopefully you'll be able to see these - a couple other Rowan bowls I did
some time back. Watch the line wrap:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater


....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

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.

Tom

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