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OVERVIEW -------- I am extremely fussy with regard to the wood I use for your bowls – as evidenced by the fact that I handpick the wood myself. I typically work in Cherry, Ash, Maple, Apple and Walnut - woods whose natural beauty is an essential ingredient when turning these fine vessels. At carefully chosen times of the year, I travel throughout the northeast acquiring these logs.
My designs focus on the gentle curve of the bowl’s body and the way it flows in one fluid arc from the base to the rim. Each wooden bowl is delicately detailed by adding my signature “touch” to the rim. To be considered an Heirloom Bowl each piece must be subtly elegant; lightweight yet balanced; and “feel right” when held. I’m a firm believer that a bowl is more than just a vessel; it should also capture your imagination and make you feel good.
Heirloom Bowls are made one at a time using only native North American hardwoods. Each bowl begins its life as a tree, obviously, which is then bucked into various lengths based on factors intended to provide the highest possible yield while also eliminating any defects. It’s then sectioned into individual blanks, which can be mounted on the lathe and rough-turned. All of this is done as soon after the initial harvesting of the tree as possible. These rough turned bowls are then dried which causes them to go “out of round”. They’re then re-turned to get them round again, sanded, and a food-safe finish is applied. The last step is to sign the bottom of each piece with my name, address and the wood species.
SELECTING THE WOOD SPECIES ------- The majority of my bowls are turned from Cherry, a wood favored by furniture makers and woodturners since colonial times. With sunlight and the passage of time cherry will transform into a beautiful rich reddish patina, which enhances the beautiful close grain I look for when sourcing new turning stock.
Other woods work equally well for bowls. Walnut is a beautiful wood and is dark brown in color with sometimes some lighter sapwood on the sides of the bowl. Maple, Apple, and Ash are also on my list of favored woods.
A beautiful hardwood burl of almost any species will make a very special bowl, but they’re tough to find. So when I do come across one, I work very hard to bring out the best in these amazing treasures from Mother Nature.
CUTTING LOGS ----- The first step is to cross cut the logs into short pieces using a chainsaw. The pieces are cut to a length that is equal to the diameter of the log. This will yield two of the largest bowls that are obtainable from that section of log.
The sections are now laid on their side and again I use the chainsaw to remove the center of the log (the pith). The pith is removed because the wood will always crack in this area and this will eliminate the cracking problem later. If the section of log is thick enough and the remainder will still yield a good sized bowl, I’ll cut a slab 2” thick from the side of one of the pieces, which I can use later to make a platter.
SHAPING THE BOWLS ------- I bring the chain-sawn bowl blanks into my studio where they are sawn into a roughly round shape with a large bandsaw to save time. Care is taken at this point to orient the grain making sure I get the most beautiful piece for the bowl.
The bowl blank is then mounted on the lathe and spins very fast, as the outside of the bowl is shaped by hand using only my eye as a guide to the final form. This is done with a hand held gouge that removes a beautiful ribbon-like shaving that glides through the air. I remove as little wood as possible, ensuring I get the largest possible bowl from the blank.
After the outside of the bowl has been shaped, it’s turned end for end and remounted on the lathe so that the “inside wood” can be removed. But that “inside wood” of the bowl will not go to waste. Instead, multiple bowls will be removed from the center (called cores) to make successively smaller bowls. As many as seven bowls may come from the center of the large bowl eliminating almost all waste.
DRYING BOWLS ------- When enough bowls and cores have been turned to fill my kiln they’ll be loaded and slowly dried for about forty days at a surprisingly low and constant temperature. A fully loaded kiln will remove somewhere in the neighborhood of forty gallons of water from the wood. When drying process concludes the stock will have been dried to a moisture content of approximately 7%. One result of all that water leaving the roughed bowls and cores is that their round shape is dramatically changed into an oval.
FINISH TURNING ------- The rough turned bowls are then put back on the lathe for finish turning, which returns them to their former round state. As before, the bowls are shaped with only the use of a hand held gouge. During the finish turning process the gouge should move in one smooth flowing cut from the bottom of the bowl to the rim.
Most of my bowls will have a turned rim or band around the top with smooth curves of tiny beads and coves or subtle texturing cut by hand. This is done for several reasons: it adds a special quality and an individual look to each piece; and it creates a wonderful proportion, especially if it’s a deep bowl. The smallest details make the biggest impact to the look of a bowl.
The inside of the bowl is now turned the same way with the gouge. The most important thing here is to make one continuous flowing curve that isn’t interrupted with any flat spots or bumps. The thickness of the bowl is critical, resulting in a lightness that surprises you when you lift it yet thick and strong enough to be a useful item for everyday use in your home. An Heirloom Bowl.
Very little sanding will be done on the rim that was so carefully turned so that the crisp detail isn’t worn away. The rest of the bowl is sanded up to a 400-grit paper. The bottom of the bowl is signed with a wood burning pen with my name, the wood species and my address. A brand new Heirloom Bowl has just been born and is now destined to become a true family heirloom that will be passed down from generation to generation.
THE FINISH ------- I use a natural tung oil finish that is made with solvents from citrus peel rather than petroleum solvents. And as such, it is absolutely “Food Safe”. The oil is liberally applied to the bowl and allowed to penetrate into the wood. When the oil begins to dry the excess is wiped away leaving only the oil that penetrated the surface. This process is repeated as many as five times depending on the species of wood. When the finish has fully cured, it’s then “sanded” with very fine steel wool covered in wax and results in very smooth and wonderful warm tone to the piece.
THE NEXT STEP ------ This is where you come in. Please contact me to conclude “The Process”.
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