Spalted Maple With Pierced Rim

[Bob Bergstrom]

Measures 9" wide and about 4" deep. Rim is a little over an 1/8" thick. The pieced area was laid out with just a pencil while watching tv one night. Used a dental drill to do the piecing. I made the swirl lines by just drawing the curves trying to keep them about the same size and in between two parallel pencil lines. As I approached the starting point I adjusted the size of the swirl to fit the remaining space. Small holes were penciled in and drilled. Even though there are some inconsistencies, it is hard to detect.http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/bbergst/IMG_4465.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/bbergst/IMG_4467.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/bbergst/IMG_4473.jpg

[Baxter Smith]

Piercing looks great and the bowl is nice too! Very pretty!

[Richard Jones]

Inconsistency is what makes it handmade. That looks great!!! Tell me about this "dentist's drill" please.........

Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[Michelle Rich]

wow..love this Bob. Beautiful full shape, and I really like the design you chose at the rim. Great piercing. If there are inconsistancies..so what? it just shows a person made it..not cnc...Very very appealing vessel.

[Tim Rinehart]

Hey Bob...that's a super looking bowl. Nice design and impact. What is finish, looks good!

[David DeCristoforo]

This is really nice, Bob! The piercing is sweet and I really like that it does not look like "everyone else's" piercing. Plus, great form and beautiful wood... can't get any better than that!

[Steve Schlumpf]

I like it! Beautiful bowl to begin with - form and wood - and your pierced design really adds to the piece! Very nice work!

[Scott Hackler]

Very nice work Bob. The bowl stands for itself, but the piercing puts it over the top.

[Jim Burr]

Beautiful Bob!! You did a great job on the peircing while keeping a "human" touch. Cool size too!

[Dan Hintz]

If there are inconsistancies..so what? it just shows a person made it..not cnc...Very very appealing vessel.
My sentiments, exactly...

[Bob Bergstrom]

Richard Dentist drill and foot pedal were given to me by a neighbor that sells dental equipment. I'm running at 35 lbs. pressure of my compressor. It works fine if the wood is not too thick, but I would suggest a more powerful unit if You want to remove a lot of wood. The foot pedal is a great asset, allowing hands to work and foot to stop and start.

Tim
The finish is Forby's Tung Oil. 3 coats of wipe on wipe off. Simple and Subtle.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Awesome looking bowl. Just love the piercing.

Q

[Tim Thiebaut]

Very beautiful piece Bob, I love the pierceing on this. When useing the drill to pierce this does it try to walk away when the tip touchs the wood while spinning, or is it fairly easy to control it? I have thought about getting one of these but it is down the road a little, have other things to do first.

[bob svoboda]

Really outstanding work, Bob. The bowl itself is great and the piercing takes it to a whole new level.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Beautiful work Bob, the inconsistency in the piercing screams out "hand made with pride", I really like the design and the wood is outstanding too, great job!

[Steve Vaughan]

Wow! That is really beautiful! Love it and want to sort of copy that right there!

[Roger Chandler]

Real Nice! I like the whole concept.....the bowl made a super palette for your embellishment. I think it is first rate!

[Sid Matheny]

That is an A++ all the way around! You sure have more patience than I have.;)

Sid

[Ed Morgano]

Really nice. As soon as i learn a little more, I'm going to attempt a bowl. No fancy stuff though....just a bowl. :)

[Michael James]

Nice one there Bob!

[Johnny Taylor]

Really nice bowl, the piercing looks great, good job on keeping the swirl shapes even.

[Prashun Patel]

That is beautiful. Nicely done. Any inconsistencies improve the look IMHO. Is the dental drill like a tiny Dremel/router? What kind of bit does that? I'd like to learn.

[Jeff Moffett]

Beautiful piece, Bob. The form is perfect and the piercing takes it to a whole new level. Very nicely done.

[Dick Wilson]

Bob, Beautiful bowl. I have to get a high speed tool instead of the Dremel I use.

[Justin Stephen]

Beautiful.

What's the maximum thickness that can be reasonably pierced with something like a Foredom flex-shaft carving tool?

[David E Keller]

Lovely work! I like the subtle inconsistencies, too.

[Jon Lanier]

Really nice and very unique!

[Frank Van Atta]

Excellent jog - especially for doing the piercing basically freehand.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Beautiful.

What's the maximum thickness that can be reasonably pierced with something like a Foredom flex-shaft carving tool?

Foredoms have a lot more power than either a dremel or dentist drill. While they are better for carving and will remove wood they do have some torque issues. Piecing a straight round hole can be done with all of the above. It is when you start to move around that the torque can cause the path to vary. I have used an NSK piercing tool and it is one of the best. Plenty of power and 340,000 rpms equal no torque problems. It does depend on the width of the piercing bit. Trying to remove more or thicker wood needs more power. All will work with patience.

[John Keeton]

Very well done, Bob!! Great job on the bowl itself, and the piercing is very well done. Beautiful!

[Tom Hamilton]

Bob, very nice. You've got the artist's eye with the design and the craftsman's touch with the dental tool. You moved a "nice but not unique bowl" to collectable status. Thanks for sharing.

Tom, in Douglasville, thinking it's time to try this dental tool stuff.

[Harry Robinette]

Very nice work the wood is beautiful but the piercing is very very nice.I have a dental drill the one thats angled, its got a bad bearing in the front so it jumps when it hits the wood. Myself and a couple others have these we all run ours at about 50 to 60 psi.much better torque.

[Donny Lawson]

Awesome looking bowl. I love the decoration addition. It should add nice value to the piece.

[Dan Forman]

Really nice work Bob, the wood is fabulous and the piercing takes it up an notch or two.

Dan

[John W Dixon]

That is a great looking bowl. I am really drawn to the pattern. Very Nice!

[Ron Stadler]

Simply gorgeous, enough said.