Cherry log bowl

[David Skidmore]

I picked up a seasoned quartered cherry log at a coop in Fredericksburg last month. Looked at it every couple of days trying to figure out what to do with it. While I love turning live wood, I've never tackled anything this big before. It is (was) 7" x 8" x 13.5" long. I cut it down to 7.5" wide. Took me close to 30 minutes to get it cut, trimmed and on the lathe. Plus another 10 minutes to make sure I was starting with sharp tools...

 

[David Skidmore]

This log was so out of balance it made the whole workbench shudder every rotation. I had to make a couple of deeper cuts on the corner just so it would turn over the rest block.

It took me 2 hours just to get to the point where everything wasn't shaking, and my right arm and elbow felt like they were going to fall off. By the end, I was cutting for 2 minutes and resting for 5 - 10.

I finally got it down to where it was starting to take shape. I'll need to shave a bit more off the bottom just to have a solid space for the chuck, but I'd like to leave a little live edge. Still not sure how the shaping will turn out. It's sitting on my breakfast bar until I can see the final lines of how I think it should look.

I work full time and only get to lathe on weekends when nothing else is going on. I'll be lucky to have this done by Thanksgiving (i have at least 3 other projects to finish as well)

 

[John K Jordan]

Interesting! Love to see the finished piece.

But... what kind of cherry is that? The bark is unlike any of the "wild black cherry" I've harvested over the years. All those have distinctive, unforgettable bark. The wood is lighter than the wild cherry too. Maybe it's the lighting.

Here's a black/wild cherry bowl from a downed tree, with an oil finish. (Almost of the cherry around here looks much like this when finished with oil)



A student made this from cherry, also with an oil finish.


JKJ

 

[Darryl Fective]

Wood often looks different in photos, than in real life, and I'm not good with wood ID, but your log looks more like beech to me than cherry.