How would you orient this blank?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All, I've never had this predicament before. This is a 6" cube so I can mount it two ways. One way I could hollow the end grain and make a nice box. The other way I could just turn like a bowl. How would you decide which way to go? I'm thinking end grain hollowing would keep the most spalting. Thanks.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Hi All, I've never had this predicament before. This is a 6" cube so I can mount it two ways. One way I could hollow the end grain and make a nice box. The other way I could just turn like a bowl. How would you decide which way to go? I'm thinking end grain hollowing would keep the most spalting. Thanks.

Send it on over to me and I will figure it all out... :)

I don't honestly know what would be best but it is a great looking blank!

Joshua

[Aaron Howard]

keep the most spalting

[charlie knighton]

there probably is no right or wrong, you really do not know what on the inside.... that said

here goes... turn the dark splating where it runs up and down, that puts it on the side....that may run with the grain or may not, but something made it run that way

hopefully that puts the faded spalting on the top or bottom

please show form when finished and tell us which way you turned it

i did not spend last night in holidoor inn :D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Alan - personally, I would turn a hollow form out of it with a face grain orientation. If you notice when looking at the blank end grain - the spalting shows up as a nice, yet thin, black line. If you turn it face grain - that same spalting will show up as horizontal black lines - such as in your 1 st and 4th photos. It really depends on what it is that you want to turn - but I like the lines to run throughout the piece cause I believe it enhances the grain.

Looking forward to seeing what you turn!

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would turn a end grain HF to keep the max spalting.

[Tony Pridmore]

I'm definitely with Steve on this: face grain hollow form. If going with a bowl, I would consider 2 shallow bowls.

Tony

[Ryan Baker]

That blank is screaming to be a hollow form. My first reaction was for an end-grain form (which is how I normally do hollow forms). But it probably would look better to have the spalt lines horizontal here, so I will go with Steve and Tony and say a face-grain hollow form. A spherical form with a small opening would look really good (as would lots of other things).

[Alan Tolchinsky]

O.K guys. I'm going to have to think about this. I did learn one thing and that's that you can hollow on face grain. For some reason I thought you only hollowed end grain. I have a Sorby Hollow Master and I have to figure out what I can do with that. I really need to learn how to use this tool better but maybe that experience shouldn't be on this blank. Decisions, decisions but it's all fun.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Alan - by all means - give it some thought, but as a reference, if you check out my photo gallery you will note that almost all my hollow forms are face grain orientation. Just something else for you to consider!

[Dick Strauss]

Alan,
Dare I say you could make two 6x6x3 bowls out of it...

[Ken Glass]

Alan,
I agree with Dick. I would consider 2 bowls also.

[Barbara Gill]

I would cut it into 3" blocks and make small hollowforms.

[Reed Gray]

You can turn both bowls/open vessels and hollow/closed forms end grain or flat grain. You could cut it into 8 cubes and make 8 boxes, or smaller end grain bowls/vessels. Cut it in half and make 2 bowls. A little big to make one box out of as wood movement will cause eventual lid fitting problems, but the lid and the box will move almost the same amount. A bigger end grain open form could look really nice. It looks like it is well waxed, so you don't have to decide right away. I have lots of pieces around the shop that I haven't figured out what to do with yet. It will come to you eventually. Biggest problem is that by the time you decide what to do with it, you may not be able to remember where you put it.

robo hippy

[Skip Spaulding]

Guess I would go with 1 large bowl or 2 smaller, but if art is your thing the HF would look great. Looking forward to the result. Decisions, Decisions!! What ever you do , I bet it will look great.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

O.K. after much debate I'm doing a HF with it, face grain. It may be a pretty open HF so I can get used to my new Sorby Hollow Master. We'll see what happens. Wood seems pretty wet with a bark inclusion or something in it. Thanks all for your help in deciding this.