# Sweetgum bowl



## EugeneInNC (Aug 18, 2008)

Hello everyone, It's been a while since I started a thread. I have about fifty or so bowls rough turned from some wood we cut in december. I finally got a finished bowl from some of that wood. It is sweetgum, it measures 12" X 3-1/2", it is finished with mineral oil and bees wax. This is the largest bowl I have completed to date. All of my larger bowls seem to crack no matter what I do to them.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Eugene,
Good to see you back. The bowl turned out very nice. What were you doing on the other ones that you were getting a lot of cracking? If you are turning a bowl while the log is still green, which it sounds like, rough it out and leave it about an inch thick. Leave a tenon on the bottom so you can rechuck it easily.Coat the end grain with some anchorseal or the equivalent, and put it in a brown paper shopping bag and put it in a cool place in your shop for a couple of months. It may show some signs up warpage, but that's ok. That's why you leave it an inch thick initially. Then go ahead and finish it and see if this helps. The other thing I do depending on the time of year is to leave it in the shop for 4-5 days when done to let it further acclimate itself. In the winter our house is usually lower in humidity than the shop. If you do get some minor cracks, fill them with some medium thickness CA glue and then sand and refinish that area. If you can still chuck it back up, its easy to do on the lathe. Just make sure the ca glue is dry before you fire the lathe up. 

Mike Hawkins


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## AZ Termite (Dec 20, 2008)

Very nice work. I like the shape. I haven't done any green turning yet. I have a box full of green blanks sitting on the shelf in the shop. I just haven't gotten to that project yet.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

That's really nice!


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## PTownSubbie (Mar 6, 2009)

Eugene,

Nice bowl!! Are the darker markings in the bowl from differences in the grain?

Nice job!


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Eugene, good to hear from you again! Been so busy on that lathe you haven't had time to check in here huh?:laughing: Nice looking bowl. That sweetgum has some pretty grain patterns going on! Thanks for sharing.

John


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## jporter5333 (Dec 6, 2008)

mucho grande nice.:thumbsup:


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## EugeneInNC (Aug 18, 2008)

Thanks for all the kind words. I think the larger bowls were cracking because of the high moisture content and the diameter of the bowls. In a week or so I hope to have some 14" to 16" bowls that had only surface cracks that turned out or will turn out when I finish turn the bowls.

The very dark brown spots are some type of brown wood that is in the log. It looks like pith wood. I have never worked with sweet gum before so I am not sure.

Thanks for looking and for the encouragement.

Eugene


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## hughie (Mar 22, 2008)

> humidity than the shop. If you do get some minor cracks, fill them with some medium thickness CA glue and then sand and refinish that area. If you can still chuck it back up, its easy to do on the lathe. Just make sure the ca glue is dry before you fire the lathe up.


Eugene,

Sound advice. I turn most of my bowls green, some so wet I have to wear wet weather gear. Depending on the timber you need to leave a good wall thickness. At a minimum, 1" some timbers move around alot so leave more 1-1/2" or so.

I then place them in cardboard boxes and close the lid but dont seal them up. I leave them for anything up to and beyond 6months. In the first couple of months I check them weekly and fill any cracks with CA. Later I check less frequently around monthly or so.


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