Looking for thoughts/suggestions

[Ron Bontz]

Another piece I roughed out last year. I lost more than I expected to truing it up. It seems to be still warping a bit as I removed material. Internal stress? I am stuck on this one. The bottom seems too heavy to me. I was thinking of an internal lid with a finial. Either way I am open for suggestions. :confused: Thanks in advance.

[Dennis Ford]

Beautiful wood, I like the outside shape. The bottom does look heavy in the picture. Internal stress will often cause the wood to move when a piece is returned.

If the top will stay round, a lid could look nice.

[Steve Vaughan]

Ron, I would agree that the bottom is a bit heavy, but I also like the idea of a lid along with a small knob for a handle. It's a beautiful piece of wood, but I'd take that bottom off altogether and make an easier transition to the bottom form the side. For the lid, I'd make something with a nice rounded curve going up to a small nicely turned knob as opposed to a finial. Just my thoughts, but I'm sure it's gonna come out just fine however you do it.

[John Keeton]

Ron, beautiful piece of wood! Hard to tell how deep the bottom is, but if it bottoms out prior to the "bead" on the bottom, I would remove the bead and interject a small cove to the foot to lighten up the piece and give it some interest.

The others have a good idea on a lid with a knob vs. finial. The issue will be roundness. The wider the rim, the more difficult it is to use a lid because of movement.

[Greg Just]

You could reverse chuck the bowl and get access to the bottom to make is smaller - just an idea. Love the wood.

[Jeff Nicol]

Ron, Depending on how thick you left the piece before you began the returning of it, there will still be some moisture in the wood. Also by the way it looks the rim is the thinnest part and with the base thicker there will be some opposing forces in the final drying while you are turning it. The piece will dry faster as you turn it and sand it also. What I normally do when I begin to re-turn a piece is to take off about 1/8" on the inside and outside even if it does not true it up. Then let it stabilize with the fresh wood showing and releasing any left over moisture, this is the time to even out the bottom too if you have left any extra wood there. Then maybe in the afternoon or the next day you will be able to see how much the wood moved and be able to tell if it is dry or not. There is not perfect solution to woods that are highly figured, spalted or have knots or voids in them as they tend to have a mind of their own.

This works well when you are plannig a lid or top for the piece, if not a little movement does not hurt the finished product.

Hope my rambling helped,

Jeff

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is some nice looking wood. I agree I would take the bead off if the bottom was near or at the top of the bead. I would continue your curve down to the bottom of the bowl.

[Jim Burr]

That's a beautiful piece of wood! I say dump the bead and let it move :D

[Ron Bontz]

So far I took John's advice and got rid of the bead completely. So now I have it at 8.25" Dia. by 3.5"tall. approx. 1/4" to 3/16th thick. It varies a bit. I am wanting to pop the grain a bit. Finish thoughts? If I had more of this cherry I would make a lid out if it.

[John Keeton]

Ron, that made a big difference! Looks much better.

Depending on what you want, nearly any finish is going to pop the grain, but WOP is easy. Do you want a gloss finish?

Also, on a lid, do you have any straight grain cherry? I think a lid from that, or even maple, would look OK - particularly with a small knob of the cherry burl if you have a small piece. Or even a maple lid, with a straight grain cherry knob.

When you spin it, is the top/rim still round?

[Ron Bontz]

The main portion of the bowl itself stays round. But the top rim has a small spot that refuses to cooperate. I noticed some vibration/chatter if I do anything with the top area. May be time to look into a steady rest? What is WOL? (Wipe On ??) I'll be letting this set for a couple of weeks or so. Flat work to finish. Thanks for the input.:)

[John Keeton]

Ron, it is WOP - wipe on poly. I am not sure a steady rest will help on the out of round rim. You may just have to determine if the small shelf you have will suffice for a lid with the lack of concentricity.