Spalted Hackberry Bowl

[Ken Glass]

Hey Gang,
Here is a Spalted Hackberry Bowl I finished yesterday. It is 9" across, 2-1/2" tall and 5/16" thickness. For being so Spalted, it was surprisingly solid and a joy to turn. It is sanded to 400 grit and has a Beall Buffed finish. Your comments are always welcome.
I am still not getting the light the way I want it on pictures, so I would also take any suggestions on the photos themselves.

I added the last picture after adjusting the White Balance on my camera to see if it made a difference. You guys be the judge.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Boy Ken that is a pretty bowl. The wood is awesome. Well done.

[David Christopher]

Ken, that bowl is beautiful...color, shape and size are just right....and far as the pics go I think they look just fine

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken....you nailed it with that one! Beautiful bowl!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful bowl Ken! Great looking wood! Amazed at the size of the growth rings!

The overall color in your photos is caused either by backdrop, lights used and/or the camera's white balance adjustment.

Let us know - what is the actual color of the backdrop? What are you using for lighting? Does your camera have settings for white balance or settings for different lighting. Also, what software do you use to 'clean up' your photos before posting?

[Ken Glass]

Thanks for the comments.
Steve, I thought the growth rings showed up well too. The backdrop is White. I bought a value priced tent with two 50 Watt lights and I added a regular soft 75 Watt light to the front for this picture. My Camera is a Fuji Finepix S5200. I will have to read the instructions to see if I can adjust the white balance or if it even has light adjustment.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ken - just based on what you said - the yellow cast is caused by the light bulbs used. Incandescent bulbs give a yellow hue, florescent bulbs will give a slight blue coloring - depending on the temp of the bulb. 5200* K is supposed to be the color of natural sunlight. As the temp (K) increases the hue goes blue.

When you check your manual - see if there are different settings for various lighting conditions. Usually there are settings for daylight, incandescent and a couple of different florescent bulbs.

[Randy Hoch]

Ken,
I turned Hackberry for the first time about 2 months ago. My father in law has
about a half dozen in a shelter belt which are standing dead. Maybe this summer we'll make the trip back to Eastern So. Dak. to bring back a pickup load.

Your spalted bowl is really nice. You indicated a buffed finish, but not what the finish was.....

Randy

[Ken Glass]

Randy,
There is no finish material. I used Tripoli on the first buff, then Carnuba Wax for the final buff.

[Randy Hoch]

Randy,
There is no finish material. I used Tripoli on the first buff, then Carnuba Wax for the final buff.

Very interesting. I've never thought about polishing the bare wood, and the wax in fact is a finish. It really does look nice Ken.

I see that this is pretty close to your one year anniversary with the Mustard Monster. What are you going to do to celebrate?:) (I've had mine for about 5 months.)

Regards,

Randy

[Ken Glass]

Randy,
I have been celebrating all along this last year with many, many, absolutely essential additional tools and accessories that I have told SWMBO that are needed to make the Monster work better. So far, she is on board. She even insisted that I buy a new Trend Airshield Pro two weeks ago. She is very supportive of my plunge into the Vortex....

[Jim Kountz]

Wow Ken thats a beauty!! Well done!!

[Kristi Sprinkle]

Try putting the bowl on a dinner plate (black or white) for size comparison and then photograph it like you were standing just above eye level to the table where it sits. If you use a higher contrast background, the auto setting on your camera should balance the light and give more of the true color of the wood.

The bowl is gorgeous, don'tcha know. We have hacks everywhere here.

[Richard Madison]

Kristi, Where is "here"?

Ken, See if your camera has a white balance "preset" feature. If so (following directions in owner's manual of course), you take a full frame picture of a white sheet of paper (or whatever) with the lighting you usually use, and that tells the camera what white is supposed to look like in that lighting. Failing that, if all your lights have the same color temperature, that will help you get the white balance right.

[Neal Addy]

That camera does have a "custom" WB setting but I'm unable to find info on how to use it. Your manual probably explains.

As Richard mentioned, that's your best way to go for accurate WB.

[Ken Glass]

Richard & Neal,
I did find the manual and the WB. I have set it now. I will take some pictures of some other turnings I have ready to post in a day or so and see what the difference is. Thanks for the advice, I can use it.

[Wayne Bower]

Ken, that is a very nice bowl. I like hackberry and there is a lot of it around where I live.

[Art Kelly]

Sometimes less is more when it comes to wood. Polish it up and let the wood speak for itself.

On the subject of WB, it's almost always best to use manual (or custom, as I think it's called on the FinePix), because Auto uses the whole image to set the balance, so the background will vary from subject to subject when using a photo setup like you're using. Thus, the background will vary if you take a picture of a blue subject and a red subject, both on the same background with the same lights.

Check these two pix I just did under the pukey fluorescent shop lights. No post processing other than sizing. One is Manual WB and one is Automatic. You pick.

Art

[Dewey Torres]

The figure and spalting are what really make this piece. Great lathe work!

[Bill Bolen]

That bowl has great form and I love all the color in it! Can't comment on the photos as they are all ready much better than mine...Bill...

[Don Carter]

Ken:
Great looking bowl! I got to get me some of that hackberry. Great job!

All the best.

Don

[Gary Herrmann]

Very nice pattern in the spalting. Great shape on the bowl too.

[Rick Prosser]

Nice job.
I think the best picture is the one that looks the closest to the real bowl color(s). I usually have to tweak the picture with software to get the closest match - even if the camera is set correctly. Isn't digital great?

Then again, usually the camera shows more flaws than I see...:D:p, but sometimes I can turn those toward the back;)

[Curt Fuller]

That's a very nice bowl. Beautiful wood too.

I struggled with trying to figure out the white balance thing for a long time. Never did get it. I finally switched to the Daylight flourescent lighting Steve mentioned, 3 bulbs in the cheap tin reflectors, and since then I just use the auto setting on the camera and the pics turn out pretty close to natural color.

[Jeff Nicol]

Ken, Great bowl and nice pictures, I like the ones that are a little darker as the grain and spalting show up nicer. I do the same thing and am still figuring out the best way. I bought some new material to build a better and bigger light box so we will see!

The bowl is great and the spalting in it is out of this world!

Jeff