I'm not a big fan of turning oak. The smell is fantastic and the grain is always striking, but it can be difficult to get a nice clean cut. And then there is the real problem, the tannin in green oak reacts to the steel of your tools and makes a mess. Not only does it make a mess of your tools, but i always find that you end up with little blue/black marks on your bowl, that may not have been there when you finished turning, but appear gradually as it dries.
The wood is definitely the hero here as shape wise I think that it's pretty boring. My wife says it's her favourite bowl that I've turned though and I'm not allowed to disagree with her.
Very nice looking bowl , it works for me :)
ReplyDeleteMost beautiful bowl that you have turned until now! And I don't say this, just for be agree with your wife :)
ReplyDeleteI love clean and straight forward shapes. Mostly more than elaborate ones. And in this case the wood compliments the shape beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLovely wood!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: I read somewhere that oak is a "ring porous hardwood." Not sure what that translates to, but the gist is that it has an open grain structure that can harbor flavors more than other hardwoods. Any ideas on this?
My personal experience is that it makes no difference. I don't use oak bowls that often and I don't think they were very common historically, but I do use a couple of oak bowls and I haven't found that to be the case. From my understanding Ash is another ring porous wood and according to Robin Wood's book on wooden bowls was the most popular bowl turning timber from the 12th -15th centuries.
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