# silver birch, natural edge



## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

A friend brought me a few pieces of the old silver birch tree that had to come down because it was overhanging power lines. It must have been an oldie -- the pieces he brought me are from a section of the trunk that was over 20" diameter.

The first bowl is going back home with him this week -- almost 11" across the peaks, 9" across the valley.

It's about the limit for my 12" swing lathe ... might have to upsize :shifty:


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## Vern Tator (Dec 16, 2011)

*Nice*

Nice job, great shape. :thumbsup: With 20" material it might be time to look for a larger lathe. Dosen't take much longer to turn a big one.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Nice bowl Duncan.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Vern Tator said:


> ... it might be time to look for a larger lathe.


Could be :yes:

I'm going to start saving my pennies (now that's _*really*_ likely to happen, perhaps if I take my name off the mailing lists of Rockler, Woodcraft, Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Lee Valley, MLCS, PennState, Freud, Home Depot, Lowes, and there must be a few more I forgot :laughing

Thinking about one of those Nova refurbs that came up in a thread here a few weeks ago ...


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## pvechart (Dec 14, 2011)

I like it...and it looks completed. How did it sand up being a green blank and what finish did you use?

Thanks,

Paul


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

pvechart said:


> I like it...and it looks completed. How did it sand up being a green blank and what finish did you use?


Thanks.

Sanding was hopeless at first, so I just left it to dry out. I weighed it every day and after 6 days it seemed stable, so I figured it was probably dry (at least on the surface).

I used the Woodriver sponge pads with hook & loop paper (the wavy edged type) in my cordless drill, I stopped at 220 grit or so.

Then 3 rounds of Salad Bowl Oil (either Tried & True or General Finishes brand, I forget which) rubbing with 0000 steel wool in between coats.

I'm not going to use steel wool on this type of piece again -- it left gray dust in the end grain, it makes the tear-out really obvious :thumbdown:


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

Duncass this is one of my new favorite bowls on here
i think you definately mastered this one:thumbsup:


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## Jeff4woodturning (Feb 1, 2009)

Beautiful bowl!


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Thanks, but you know how it is when you make something you know where all the little imperfections are -- I don't feel anywhere near "mastering" this form :no:

I still get a line where the sides meet the bottom (instead of a smooth curve), and I know there are variations in the thickness, and so on.

That said -- I'm very pleased at how much better it turned out than it would've if I'd tried making it 6 months ago :smile:


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## Hwood (Oct 21, 2011)

very nice


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## Nate Bos (Jan 11, 2012)

beautiful bowl! what is silver birch acually? Is it a wood ID term or a tree ID term?


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Very nice bowl and a good job on the photography as well.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Thanks again.



Nate Bos said:


> what is silver birch acually? Is it a wood ID term or a tree ID term?


"Silver Birch" is the name of a tree -- _Betula pendula_ according to Wikipedia, native to Europe.

But ... apparently I've been calling trees by the wrong name ever since I moved to America, where the birch trees are far more likely to be _Betula papyrefa_, common names being "Paper Birch, American White Birch and Canoe Birch" (again, from Wikipedia).

Not sure whether I should tell Mike & Kate I burned the wrong tree name in the bottom of their bowl ... :huh:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I like the live edge on it. How do you keep it from coming off while turning it? Is it green or dry?


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Dominick said:


> I like the live edge on it. How do you keep it from coming off while turning it? Is it green or dry?


"How do you ...?" suggests that I actually had some control over it :laughing:

I always approached the bark "from above" (i.e. not cutting from the wood side into the bark edge), which can be tricky because most of the time the gouge is in air, have to move the cutting edge very slowly.

Aside from that -- pure luck. Either it was going to stay on or it was going to fly off.

It was green, after turning it took about a week to drop to a stable moisture content :icon_cool:


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## fixer (Jul 24, 2011)

beautiful 
I like N E bowls:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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