Elm bowl

[Bill Neff]

I've been lurking & reading for a few months so I'm finally diving in with a bowl that was a love/hate project. It started off as a dryed piece of elm from my firewood pile that had been laying around for at least 2 years.

As I roughed it all sorts of cool stuff was appearing stains in the wood, a void, herringbone looking movement in the grain, a depression with worm diggins (side-d lower right)there are a couple of checks that looks like it was stained with CA glue (but no glue was used at all). I got it turned to a 3/8" thickness and then had to stop for a couple of days because of work & family.

There was quite of tearout because of the was getting a little punky in spots. When I came back to sand it, it must have warped a little because it now had a slight wobble even though it hadn't been moved from the chuck or the lathe. As a result one spot on the wall is now 1/8" thick & the rest is about 1/4".

The size is 3 1/4" tall by 6 1/4" wide.

Any comments, suggestions, critiques are welcome.

Bill

(I have no clue how far I am from Steve S. but I am 351 miles east of Bernie W.)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bill - you sure picked a hard wood to turn but the end result sure was worth it! Great looking wood - lots of character! A lot of times the wood - even when known to be dry - will warp a little due to stresses being released as the turning gets thinner. Not much you can do about it - other than try and finish it in one session.

Other thing is - should you have to leave your turning in the chuck over night - cover it up with a plastic grocery bag. The bag forms a micro-climate and keeps the turning from drying out.

[Bill Neff]

Thanks Steve. I'll remember the bag trick next time, especially since I don't think the wife will accept "But honey, I really want to go see your mother again, but this bowl needs my attention!"

Bill

[Danny Hamsley]

Elm has interlocked grain that leads to drying stress that can cause warpage. It is one of the harder woods to dry. Your bowl looks great!

[Richard Madison]

That's a pretty nice piece Bill. If that's your first bowl, lots of folks say to date it and save for later reference.

Might want to round the sides into the bottom (smaller bottom) on the next one and see how that looks to you. You are off to a great start!

[Steve Mawson]

Agree with the other folks, very nice piece. I have some Elm waiting for me. If it looks half that good I will be happy.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hey Bill that is a good looking bowl. I turn a lot of Elm up here as they are really abundant. Almost as abundant as Cottonwood. Where ya located?

[Bill Neff]

Thanks for all the comments. It's not my first bowl and if I hadn't like the what the wood was showing, I'd probably would have trashed it early on because it was such a pain to turn. I did also think I should have made the bottom rounder. That would have given the bowl a more pleasing look.

Bernie, I'm in Berryton, KS which is just SE of Topeka. I grew up in Great Bend, so I know what you mean about having elm & cottonwood. My brother said after the tornados and ice storms the past couple of years they had more elm & cottonwood than they could handle.

Bill

[Rusty Smith]

When I saw you were 351 miles east of Bernie I knew you had to be close by. My in-laws had a Berryton address for about 22 years. I'm in Topeka. I would like to invite you to the Kansas Woodturners meeting. I'll send you the info via PM.

[Bill Neff]

Thanks Rusty, I'd like that.

[Rusty Smith]

Bill, I sent you a couple of emails with info.