Rather than use for firewood, I opted to do something with two slices of birch pith that I cut from a couple of birch logs a year ago. One of the log sections is shown here with starting chainsaw cuts along top. The 2nd photo shows the two pith slices at the top of the photo. They measured about 2 inches thick x 12 x 12. The 'keepable' log sections for bowl turning are shown in front of the pith sections.
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I let them dry about 10 months before turning. Not surprisingly, there was some cracking along the pith and it was a challenge to get a reasonable surface finish. But was pleased with the final outcome of fiery birch grain along with nice pith character in the wood. I did use some glue/coffee grounds a couple of places to fill in voids where the pith chipped out during turning. Anyway, here are photos of the finished pieces ... 3 coats of Minwax Antique Oil finish then buffed to a glossy finish. Final finished diameter of the two pith shallow bowls is ~11 inches. Only including bottom photo of one bowl since they were turned the same way.
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Tom
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