In lieu of having the galleries functional..........this

[Odie]

This figured claro walnut bowl was completed on 2/16/16. 7 5/8" wide and 4 13/16" tall. Bowl block was initially 18% MC when roughed, and took 12 months to reach stabilization. The height was reduced by 15/16" in order to eliminate drying cracks. Raw bowl block was 8x8x5 3/4". The 4 detail grooves on the rim were cut on a surface that had .006" run-out after sanding......very acceptable for good eye-pleasing aesthetic detail grooves. There is an undercut rim on the interior surface. There are a total of 10 separate surfaces with intersecting cleanly distinguishing corners. All surfaces sanded to 600gt, beall buffed, with hard carnauba wax.

As always, your comments are welcome.......

ko

 

[john lucas]

Nice looking bowl. I'm having problems with my new wood storage area. My roughed out blanks that are several years old are 16% now. I"m going to have to figure a way to store them in the shop to get them down to something reasonable. I put a dehumidifier in there but water still runs through the building when it rains hard. I'm working on a solution.

 

[Gretch Flo]

Nice Odie. I like!!!, Gretch

 

[Fred Belknap]

Odie I admire your work.

 

[Odie]

Thanks John,Gretch and Fred.......

You know, I just clicked on my own photo and see what looks like a flaw that is highlighted on the rim edge where the light is reflected. This made me scurry off to the storage closet to see what that is, as I hadn't noticed any flaws in this piece when I was turning it. It appears to be a little knot swirl there......and to the eye, looks very natural in the real physical world. In that photo, since the lighting emphasizes it, it makes that little natural occurring element look bad. That's a relief, but I hope it doesn't prevent a possible sale, since the bowl has already been placed in my online shop.

ko

 

[Bill Boehme]

I think that woodturners fret about stuff that buyers never even notice. Buyers see the overall shape and feel (if at a craft show) and maybe the attractiveness of the wood. Things like he precision and crispness of detail and how the various elements flow together are what makes the piece what it is, but if you ask a buyer why they like it, they will express it in terms of feelings and not so much in terms of how it was made. You have a different perspective because you first saw it as a block of wood and went through the stages of getting it into the final form. The buyer only sees the destination and not the journey. My wife gives each of my pieces a critique and sometimes I realize that the journey was better than the destination. Trying to put myself in a buyers shoes, I would say that you have a very nice piece whose destination would be gracing a parlor table or fireplace mantle.

 

[Odie]

I think that woodturners fret about stuff that buyers never even notice. Buyers see the overall shape and feel (if at a craft show) and maybe the attractiveness of the wood. Things like he precision and crispness of detail and how the various elements flow together are what makes the piece what it is, but if you ask a buyer why they like it, they will express it in terms of feelings and not so much in terms of how it was made. You have a different perspective because you first saw it as a block of wood and went through the stages of getting it into the final form. The buyer only sees the destination and not the journey. My wife gives each of my pieces a critique and sometimes I realize that the journey was better than the destination. Trying to put myself in a buyers shoes, I would say that you have a very nice piece whose destination would be gracing a parlor table or fireplace mantle.

You know, Bill......

I think all of what you say is very true. I see the details entirely different than an observer who contemplates my work.......it's all emotional, and not analytical, like I tend to be. I do think my perspective of my own work does work to my advantage, in the total picture, though.

Thanks

ko

 

[Grant Wilkinson]

It's very fine, KO. In the first pic, I noticed what looked to be a chip out of the rim. I just knew, given the quality of your work, that it must be a photo thing.

 

[Odie]

It's very fine, KO. In the first pic, I noticed what looked to be a chip out of the rim. I just knew, given the quality of your work, that it must be a photo thing.

Thank you.

You're right Grant......it was the result of lighting in the photo. To the naked eye, what appeared to be a flaw looks very natural. I'll probably eventually rephotograph the bowl, but it's not something I'm feeling in a hurry to do. The wood in this one, in my opinion, is so rare and exceptional that I just don't care if it sells......or not!

A bit of my Etsy selling philosophy: It seems the best sellers are between $100 and $200. My most expensive bowls, of which this tall claro walnut shown in this thread is among that group, tend to contribute to advance the sales of the lesser expensive and more sale-able group. I put a good price on these bowls, and it has little to do with my expenses, time invested, or how much effort I put in them......but, how aesthetic the wood itself is. I've sold a number of bowls in the $400-$700 range, and I want to make a few sales here.....but sales in this range are sporadic......however, they do seem to make lesser expensive bowls look good to potential customers. This is what I THINK anyway.......and, this all is dependent on how well I can read the minds of those who purchase my bowls, and how they apply their thinking to how much they are willing to spend!

Near as I can tell, there is another price range for wooden bowls that seems to move pretty well on Etsy.......between $25 and $50. I'm having a hard time competing in this range, mostly because I rely on purchasing my wood, and I just spend way too much darn time doing what I do! As It is, I'm pretty much a minimum wage turner, except for my most expensive bowls.....which are not great sellers, anyway. My overall philosophy, in the first place, isn't about making money, but doing "my thing"......and "my thing" is all about bringing my level of craftsmanship up to the highest level I am capable of.

ko

 

[John Torchick]

odie, I have always admired your turnings. Great looking bowl.
John Lucas, you could move to south Arizona. Not much rain there. Now you can say that you have running water in your shop.
I have a storage building that is like that when we get rain. If they had made the roof panels just an inch longer that would have cured the problem.

 

[Odie]

odie, I have always admired your turnings. Great looking bowl.
John Lucas, you could move to south Arizona. Not much rain there. Now you can say that you have running water in your shop.
I have a storage building that is like that when we get rain. If they had made the roof panels just an inch longer that would have cured the problem.

Sincerely thanks, John.....

John has spoken of this problem a couple of times, and how it effects the moisture content of his wood.......maybe a moat will help!

Seriously, though......All of us who depend on seasoning roughed bowls, do need a way to store them in a relatively humidically stable environment.....and, the running water problem isn't any help for doing that. The raised humidity probably does help preserve wood better, but for seasoning roughed bowls, it isn't going to work out very well.

ko

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Sincerely thanks, John.....

John has spoken of this problem a couple of times, and how it effects the moisture content of his wood.......maybe a moat will help!

Seriously, though......All of us who depend on seasoning roughed bowls, do need a way to store them in a relatively humidically stable environment.....and, the running water problem isn't any help for doing that. The raised humidity probably does help preserve wood better, but for seasoning roughed bowls, it isn't going to work out very well.

ko

Kelly I will have to disagree with you on hermetically sealed environment. No matter what the moisture level of you shop you can only bring the wood down to a stable level where it will not (in that environment ) lose any more moisture. Even then when the piece is moved to its "permanent" resting place the humidity will be different and the piece of wood will adjust to that environment. Therefore we are only taking an educated guess when we consider the piece to be "stable".

 

[Odie]

Kelly I will have to disagree with you on hermetically sealed environment. No matter what the moisture level of you shop you can only bring the wood down to a stable level where it will not (in that environment ) lose any more moisture. Even then when the piece is moved to its "permanent" resting place the humidity will be different and the piece of wood will adjust to that environment. Therefore we are only taking an educated guess when we consider the piece to be "stable".

Gerald.....who said anything about "hermetically sealed environment"? My shop is acclimated to my specific locality.

I do agree that when a bowl is finished and moved from my climate in Montana, to anywhere else, there will be an adjustment from one environment to the other.

ko

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Gerald.....who said anything about "hermetically sealed environment"? My shop is acclimated to my specific locality.

I do agree that when a bowl is finished and moved from my climate in Montana, to anywhere else, there will be an adjustment from one environment to the other.

ko

I presumed that humidically sealed was hermetically sealed since I have never heard of humidically sealed. Apologies if I misunderstood

 

[Odie]

I presumed that humidically sealed was hermetically sealed since I have never heard of humidically sealed. Apologies if I misunderstood

Hi Gerald.....actually, it wasn't humidically sealed either......it was humidically stable. My meaning was, that the humidity could be imagined as fluctuating, as the result of running water periodically directed through the building might be. I suppose I could have been more clear what I meant by my choice of words......

ko

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hi Gerald.....actually, it wasn't humidically sealed either......it was humidically stable. My meaning was, that the humidity could be imagined as fluctuating, as the result of running water periodically directed through the building might be. I suppose I could have been more clear what I meant by my choice of words......

ko

It's OK, Odie. Getting the message across is the ONLY thing that counts. Let anybody who hasn't committed high crimes and misdemeanors against Her Majesty's English be the first to cast scones.

Besides, there's no more hills to climb after Warren G. Harding had us to return to "normalcy".

 

[John Tisdale]

Take a look at Steve Russell's website - he did a white paper on boiling roughs - it reduces the internal stresses and the pieces dry, as per Steve, twice as fast.
I talked to Steve a year or so after I started boiling and corrected one of his claims: my pieces dry three times as fast, maybe faster. He knew that but was hesitant to make "fantastic" claims.
After roughing to maybe 1" to 1.5" thickness, I boil for at least 2-hours. Instead of removing the hot piece, I let it cool overnight - removing it hot will buy you immediate surface cracks.
All spend a couple of months in a sealed cardboard box (can't find grocery bags large enough) - a 2" computer fan glued on a piece of 2" PVC pulls air out 24/7. I will check the moisture - if under 20%, it comes out of the box but the fan stays in. There is a dehumidifier in the room and I'll keep the temp at least 90.
When my meter says 6%, I'm ready to second-turn and finish
I've turned lots of black walnut and one large Koa - never a piece of claro which I understand can be challenging.