Bradford Pear "Practice Bowl"

[Thomas Canfield]

Bradford Pear bowl, 15 1/2 D x 4 1/2 H. sanded to 400 and no finish. Wall thickness about 1/4" after rim. this is a practice bowl since the blank checked so bad. I had cut it with chain saw for lathe and left it for 3 hours back on July 4th and checks developed. Pity to loose the blank, but I finally decided to practice on it for shape and to see what was under the checks. I am still considering trying to fill some of the checks and finish it, but it would end up as a fruit bowl in any case. LOML now says I need to only work on "good wood" and told me to look for some when we go to Hawaii next time.

[Jeff Nicol]

Thomas, I know how it feels to loose a great piece of wood the same way. Sometimes I get the cart before the horse and ruin things! But on I go to the next chunk. Nice shaped bowl, good standard form, should give you plenty of insight on how the wood turns for the next good one.

Have a great night,

Jeff

[Baxter Smith]

I still like it and think it would look even better finished. Just consider it added character!

[John Keeton]

Thomas, it has a lot of character, and may be worth filling and finishing out. However, sounds like you have spousal approval for some very nice wood - better jump on that!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice form! Really like the wood and the size would make for a great centerpiece. A lot of the wood I use is cracked - was when I found it - and you have the option of filling the cracks or just using as is. This is a great chance to play with some color to accent the cracks and make them a focal point instead of seeing them as a fault.

Either way - very nice bowl!

[Richard Madison]

Nice bowl Thomas (almost). The natural openings are cool, but that crack to the rim is a killer. Similarly just lost what was going to be best ever hf vase. Had to leave it partialy hollowed for 3 days due to holiday house guests. It was good practice, as was your bowl. Maybe later some epoxy.

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a good looking bowl and wood. I surely would try to save it.

[Rob Cunningham]

That's a nice looking bowl. I would use some epoxy to fill the cracks and try to save it. It has a lot of character.

[David E Keller]

Nice bowl... I agree with the others about filling the cracks with something like tinted epoxy. I wish my wife would instruct me to purchase more wood, especially the Hawaiian stuff which I'm partial to.

[Thomas Canfield]

Thanks for comments. The feel of the Bradford Pear is too much to pass on and I am considering trying a "Manhattan Epoxy" mix with some wood dust to fill the thin cracks. I know that I need a thinner filler and that the straight epoxy will be to thick. It will give me some practice working around fill areas and not loosing the wood character. The large voids I will plan to leave open at this time. I have also seen butterfly patches used on some bowls in Hawaii and that might be another possibility if I get daring. Don't look for any post of fix soon in any case.

I have a couple of other roughed out pieces of Bradford Pear that were turned green and sealed so this one loss hurts but is good practice. When turned green it was really slinging water, but dry it finishes great. I strongly recommend getting any that you can and rough turn green and seal for later. Even turned green it finishes pretty good but will have considerable warp.

[Thomas Canfield]

UPDATE: Here is the bowl delivered to my daughter for a "fruit bowl". Wood shavings, sanding dust, and instant coffee were moistened with DNA and then mixed with 5 min epoxy to fill the gaps, voids, and cracks. Bowl finish sanded by hand and then oil/poly mix with tripoli buffing for finish. Backdrop for picture is steps of her house in SF, Ca. I almost forgot to take a finished picture.

[Ken Hill]

I was reading the thread and going to reply to save that sucker!!! Looks very nice!:D

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Thomas, Bradford Pear is such a cool wood to work with and yeilds some really neat stuff as you found out here Good save or practice or whatever you want to call it.:)

[Richard Madden]

Glad to see you were able to save it. Looks good.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nice save! That wood has tremendous character. I've turned 1 piece of Bradford Pear. Nice turning wood based on my experience!