New Burl Bowl

[Dick Rowe]

This weekend I decided to try turning a chunk of 'mystery' burl a friend gave me recently. Not sure what kind of wood it is (possibly Ash), and the PPF (personal pucker factor) was extreme working around the holes (a first for me), but I was able to get it turned without any real drama.

The burl ‘gob’ started out at 12” diameter (just fit the Delta 46-460), and the final turning is just under 9” across and 4” deep.

Finished with Antique Oil followed up with several coats of General gloss wipe-on poly (also a first for me on bowls) then Beall buffed ... with a coat of Renaissance wax on top.

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[Bernie Weishapl]

Really a nice looking bowl. That is some interesting looking wood.

[David E Keller]

Man, that's pretty. Nice work. If not for the characteristic holes in the piece, I wouldn't have guessed that the bowl in the first and last picks was the same piece... Just shows you how much the camera can distort perception of a form. Mystery burl is really nice looking wood... I will start looking for mystery trees immediately!:D

[Baxter Smith]

Very pretty wood and the holes add character. The AO gives it a nice look and makes it touchable.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice looking bowl! Really pretty wood and I like how you rounded over the lip.

Turning blanks with holes in them can be challenging at times but it can sure add some character to the finished piece!

Nice work! Thanks for sharing!

[Tim Rinehart]

Whatever wood it is, it looks great. Nice to see when someone pushes the very limit of a machine like that...
Well done.

[William Bachtel]

Well that had to make you smile. Almost looks like Cherry Burl. But my gut says no.

[John Keeton]

Whatever it is, it sure made up into some nice turnings!!

[Michelle Rich]

wow, that mystery is gorgeous. very nice bowl

[George Guadiane]

Nice use of a beautiful piece of wood!

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[Steve Vaughan]

That really turned out great. Looks something like a maple to me, but whatever, it's beautiful. I gonna look around to see if we have any mystery trees that grow around here!

[Josh Bowman]

I like that burl!

[Thomas Bennett]

That really turned out great. Looks something like a maple to me, but whatever, it's beautiful. I gonna look around to see if we have any mystery trees that grow around here!


I agree with Steve, in all his comments. Maple & very beautiful! I've been a woodworker for a long time and sometimes it's still really hard to type a special chunk of wood. Nice bowls.

[Dick Rowe]

Thanks for the kind words folks. As a relatively new turner, getting praise from folks whose work I admire on this site every day is special!

I tend to agree with some of you that this may be maple. For now I am just going to say it is 'Mystery Burl' and let it go at that.

As a bit of a gloat I recently received some more burls from my buddy (pic below). I should mention that my pal has a sawmill and he and his crew save the outside log cutoffs with burls on them for me to pick through. Nice friend, eh!!

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