Got tired of plain hard maple

[Bob Bergstrom]

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/bbergst/IMG_1032.jpg

A little over a year ago, I helped saw up two large maple trees. I harvested over 80 bowls from those trees ranging from 5" up to 24". Last fall I threw some of them under a tarp in the back with a bunch of shavings, but it was too dry and the didn't change too much. This spring I put them in plastic storage containers and threw in leaves, wood chips, ammonia and soda pop. The ammonia and pop( suppose to use beer but I didn't have any) accelerate the spaling process. Must of worked. They are now drying in the garage which has been like a kiln this last week. I hope to turn them this fall. One is 15" and the larger is 17".
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/bbergst/IMG_4791.jpg

[Marty Eargle]

Wow, looks like you've found a magic combo for a great spalt. Kind of makes me hate to think about all the fine beer that's been wasted when a store brand Pepsi could do the trick.

Look forward to seeing what comes of this.

[Jim Adkins]

Nice ripping mill Bob....Is that you or do you belong to the other Stihl resting??
Nice spaulting job, should reveal some nice dark lines.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Boy those should turn out nice Bob. Yep that is a mother load of turning wood.

[Jim Burr]

That is going to be some beautiful stuff Bob. Easy to see based on the size of those trees why you ran out of beer;)

[David E Keller]

It'll be interesting to see what's inside those bowls. You got lots of surface mold there, so I hope you got some nice color and zone lines inside the wood.

[charlie knighton]

could be interesting, did you ever clear the back yard, i did not see any help

[John Keeton]

Bob, those are really going to have some character!! I sure hope the weather was cooler when you tackled those maples!

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Looks like a interesting project. Has the wood stayed solid, or has it started to get punky ? I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished bowls.

[Jon Nuckles]

Bob,
With trees like that, I wouldn't think you'd have to hang out at the wood dump anymore! Good luck with getting good character and no rot with the spalting.
Jon

[Bob Bergstrom]

could be interesting, did you ever clear the back yard, i did not see any help

Charlie, that a friend of mine pushing the lumber mill. We spent the whole summer there. We had as many as 6 of us. Mark Hubl (fellow creeker) spent a couple of days. I do have some smaller bowls that will be ready a lot sooner.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very cool looking bowls! Looking forward to seeing what they look like once finished!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Wow talk about a difference in appearance! That is amazing, I really cant wait to move to a place where I have access to wood like this, and be able to experiment with processes like this.

[Rob Cunningham]

It looks like you found a good recipe for splating. Cant wait to see the finished bowls.