Curly Koa Bowl

[Thomas Kila]

These photos don't do the wood justice, but I had to show the curly grain anyway. The blank had a few cracks in it, so I used butterfly patches (for the first time!) to stabilize and decorate the bowl.

[alex carey]

looks like nice wood. i like the shape. good job

[Jeff Nicol]

Thomas, That Koa is some specatular wood! I wish I had brought some back when I lived in Hawaii! Never thought I would be turning like I am now back in 1985. The bowl is nice and the little bowties add some nice contrast to the dark wood.

Great job

Jeff

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking bowl and wood. I like the bow ties.

[Steve Frederick]

Excellent treatment of that crack!;)
Nice looking project! How did you cut the patches? In the rough or at the finish?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great looking bowl! Love all the curl and that rich color! Real nice work on the patches!

[John Frigillana]

:rolleyes: Great looking work Tom. I also use the patches in many of my turnings. They add a personal character to each bowl. Do you belong to a club in Hawaii. I'm on Oahu. Here's a Milo bowl with the Pewa patches.:)

[Thomas Kila]

Steve,
I used a template made by Mark Stebbins (www.bigislandengraving.com (http://www.bigislandengraving.com)) and a laminate router. After final shaping, I hot-glued the template onto the piece (while still mounted to the lathe) and routed out the patch. Stebbins makes different size templates, as well as the corresponding patches. Once cut, I only had to use a sharp chisel to cut the corners. It's really not difficult to do. As I said, that was my first attempt at using the patches.

Keoni,
I am also on Oahu and do not belong to any club. I was hoping to join the AAW group that used to meet at the Honolulu WoodCraft store. Are you a member there? I took a couple of bowl turning classes at WoodCraft. One from John Uyehara and one from Andy Cole. (Both great turners and instructors.) I've always loved the look of pewa, but was too intimidated to try it. BTW, great Milo bowl.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Tom that wood is awesome and the work you put into that shows off. nice job

[Larry Marley]

very nice,
I think your solution gives the bowl character and a story.
Beautiful grain.

[John W Dixon]

Wow, I love the use of the bowties on those bowls. Great job on the bowls!

John

[Jim Becker]

Very nice piece! And the bowties are wonderful...I can't say I've seen that done on a bowl previously. Very nice!

[Parker Nicholson]

I rarely post here (don't have a lot of time)...

Anyway, I have been doing the patches for a couple years now on my bowls. I learned about these while on the Big Island of Hawai'i. They are called "pewa" or more commonly "butterflies".

You can buy these from Mark and Karen Stebbins, Hawai'i:

http://www.stebbinsstudios.com/html/products_for_woodturners.html

[John Frigillana]

:rolleyes:Tom , I am a member of the HW. Great club and wonderful group of guys. Club meets 1st Tuesday of the odd month. Next meeting is in May. Look up the website and get info on mtg. place. Hope to see you there.:)