Hawaiian Silky Oak bowl

[Rick Markham]

Howdy gang! I have been busy turning since school has been out, I chose not to post everything as I want y'all to have some bandwidth left over. This is a bowl I made for my mom's birthday, it's my first attempt at an ogee type form.

It turned out pretty well, I did end up with a tool mark from the heel of my gouge on the inside, I guess it is time to round the heel off a bit, I must have set the heel down harder than I would have liked, it only appeared after the finish was applied and i couldn't feel it or see it after sanding to 400.

The walls are 1/4" down to the bottom which is about 3/8". It's 9" in diameter and 4&1/8" tall. I had a lot of fun with this one and even sent John Keeton a PM in utter excitement at how it turned out. Not sure what number this bowl is at this point. I think it is time to set up a photo tent, I had a lot of trouble getting pictures of this one, and these don't really do it justice :(

I hope you all enjoy, and Critique and Criticism is wanted and welcomed!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/015-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/013-3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/014-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/020-2.jpg

[Roger Chandler]

Rick,

You are really advancing..........it shows with every turning you post. Wow, what pretty wood this is! I know your mother must have liked it. This is a form that is not seen everyday, and it has a little of that pot at the end of the rainbow look, without the feet of course. I like the flared out rim you put on this as well. Nice finish!

Grinding the heel of your bowl gouge will help eliminate those bruising rings...........it used to drive me nuts, as I did not know what was causing it until some of the nice folks here on the creek told me what was happening, and how to correct it...........been better ever since! Again, this is a nice one!

[David E Keller]

That's a great looking bowl, and that's the first I've seen of that wood... It's really nice.

You can try to wipe your pieces down with DNA before finishing(after sanding). Sometimes that will show you areas that you can't see prior to finishing. It'll also raise the grain, so be sure to take that into consideration before applying your finish.

Nice work on the present for your mom!

[Ron Stadler]

Very nice bowl Rick, the form is great and the silky Oak looks really good.

[Rick Markham]

Thanks Roger, I have been very careful to not get any tool marks in my finishing cuts on the insides, and finally came to the conclusion "well that's why some folks grind the heel on their gouge" it was kind of an "duh!" moment (doesn't qualify as an "a-ha!" moment) I guess it was having to change direction in the inside curve that led me to the conclusion. Strange... you guys do everything for a reason! :D

[Rick Markham]

Thanks David I will definitely do that in the future! Great tip!

[John Keeton]

Rick, you should be proud of this one!! Very nice piece, and that wood is outstanding! Nice job on finishing off the bottom, too. Looks like that one bruised area is the only trouble spot you had - PROGRESS!!!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Rick - love the wood! Sometimes those little imperfections we create when turning just add to the character of the piece! In this case - everything works and I am sure your Mom loved her gift!

Nice work! Hope you have time to do some more turning before heading back to school!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice bowl and I do love the wood.

[Rick Markham]

Thanks fellas! Yes it is progress, and i am very pleased with this one!

Steve, I am getting some good turning in while I can, School starts next week again, so I will have to go back to doing some studying as well, but there should still be plenty of time for turning! I just have to get my homework done first!

[Ken Hill]

School starts next week again, so I will have to go back to doing some studying as well, but there should still be plenty of time for turning! I just have to get my homework done first!


I now question your loyality to the lathe!

[Curt Fuller]

Great looking bowl! That's really some interesting wood too. I think this is the first I've seen of it too. Nice job!

[Richard Madden]

Great looking bowl, Rick. That wood is beautiful, and seeing it is a first for me too. I'm betting your Mother will love it. Nice job!

[Thomas Canfield]

Nice looking bowl and wood. I attended the Western Hawaiian Woodturners meeting back in December and a member was showing a piece of Silky Oak that he was turning that was green and had some cracks that were growing almost as he spoke. He mentioned that Silky Oak is in the Poison Ivy family and a lot of people are allergic to it. About that time my face started to itch and I was 15' or more from the wood. I know that I am super-sensitive to reaction from Poison Ivy and have had a reaction to some woods in the Rosewood family and have removed all of them from the shop. Glad you can use the wood.

[Jim Burr]

Nice lookin' work young man! To second David's point..you can also use regular Isopropol Alcohol which is about 2 billion percent cheaper than DNA! Keep it up!

[Rick Markham]

Thanks guys! Jim, I will definitely take that into account!

Hawaiian Silky Oak, is also called Australian silk oak, silver oak... etc. as Thomas found out the hard way, it is (like rosewoods, cocobolo, and some ebonys) a member of the Proteaceae family, which poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are also members. So far I have turned several rosewoods, and this large piece of silky oak, and luckily I am not allergic. From what I have heard those who are, the experience is not a pleasant one. I also know I am not allergic to poison ivy and poison oak either, though I also realize that sometimes there is an exposure based reaction and an allergy may form over time.

Now that I am thinking about it, my mother is extremely allergic to poison ivy, and now I am wondering if this is an appropriate gift, it has a tung oil finish. Does anyone know if it is just exposure to the wood dust that causes a reaction, or will a finished piece evoke a reaction from some people. I'd rather not have my mom break out from her present... "Happy Birthday! You got steroids from the dermatologist!" I've suddenly become somewhat uneasy about giving it to her.

Edited to add: I just did a fair amount of research on the subject, it seems that all of the reactions are based on exposure to the wood when working it, and don't seem to affect people as an object in use. It also seems that some of my previous research was flawed, though all of those species of woods are related they are distantly related, one might be extremely allergic to one while not allergic to any others. It's a crap shoot really, the interactions of wood allergies seems to be a real grey area in medical knowledge.

[Russell Eaton]

Rick that is a sweet looking bowl. I like the shape of the rim, it is the right size for the bowl size. One thing to remember as you age your body changes. I too had little or no reaction to poison ivy. The last time I was infected to the point the Dr. put me on 2 round of steroids. I would just hate to hear you found out when it got in your lungs. Russell

[Rick Markham]

Russell, I wear a respirator, the skin reactions seem to be pretty horrible, I would rather not find out what the severe internal reaction would be like!

[Art Kelly]

...It's a crap shoot really, the interactions of wood allergies seems to be a real grey area in medical knowledge.

Crap shoot is right. I react to walnut and poison ivy, but not silk oak. I had to cut down my only silk oak after the freeze of 1982 or 1983. I milled the trunk and first two crotches with a chain saw, stickered them in the garage and (finally) got around to surfacing them last year. I also (in the meantime) got a lathe, so I've turned some of the smaller slabs from the crotches. Anyway, I never had a single reaction from the SO in all that time.

Rick, you must be on the northern edge of the freeze-tolerance area for them. They all croaked here (Maitland), and I haven't seen a single one since.

[Paul Girouard]

Lovely bowl.

From your last post I'd say don't give it to your Mom, she might love it while IT hates her and she'd never want to admit that to you. Mom's are like that mostly, another bowl of a less likely allergic wood would make a better gift for your Mom.

But like I said it is a lovely turning.

[Rick Markham]

Thanks Paul, after reading about it, she has actually been in contact with another piece of silky oak that I had also used on a flat work project, and she had no adverse reaction to it, I will give her an explaination of the risks involved, and if she wants me to make her something else I will.

Art, this piece actually came from the Big Island of Hawaii, I didn't realize until reading about it later, that they have been imported here and are "somewhat common" I guess they were quite plentiful in Australia, but logging in the early part of last century has mostly eliminated them. I know it isn't typical for a Hawaiian to let loose of a piece like this, and feel extremely fortunate to have gotten it, it was really a pleasure to turn, in spite of the risks involved.

I found somewhere a list of the allergen causing chemicals in various hardwood species, there is quite a bit of variation between even closely related species, the only real way to find out if your allergic is to be exposed to it, and even then the first time might not elicit a reaction, subsequent times however, maybe an entirely different' story! I feel fortunate to not be allergic (so far) to woods, and especially poison ivy, however, I still avoid that stuff like the plague!

As Russ Fairfield says on his website "There are two types of people, those who are allergic to cocobolo, and those who will be." (my prayers go out to his family and to a "miracle" recovery for him, he was a great artist, and a very knowledgeable turner, I wish I would have had a chance to talk with him)

[Baxter Smith]

Nice bowl Rick with some fascinating wood!

[steven carter]

Rick,

Beautiful bowl out of some really nice wood. I've never seen this before, but I like it. I use naptha to clean off the sawdust after sanding and to check for flaws. Naptha does not raise the grain and evaporates fairly quickly. It's about $15 a gallon, but a gallon lasts a long time for me. I would guess more than 75 bowls and other turnings from a gallon.

Steve