Natural edge....aggressive bark?

[Mike Willeson]

I have only turned a couple of natural edge bowls and was using pear wood so it had a fairly thin bark. In looking at my wood supply, I see I am kind of low on logs with thin bark. :(

How do natural edge bowls look with an aggressive bark log like walnut or boxelder?

Anyones experiences or even better yet, pictures, would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[Bill Bolen]

IMHO the thick barks looks the best. Walnut, cherry ect. Just try and use winter cut wood. The bark has a better chance of staying on. Spring or summer cut wood , the sap is up and the bark will fall off.

[Kathy Marshall]

Mark, here's a Cherry NE bowl I did last september. I do like the thick bark, but I also like the thin bark and the ones with no bark. It's all a matter of taste and wood blank availability.
Have fun!


206502

[Fred Belknap]

Recently turned walnut NE
.206503

[Bernie Weishapl]

Rather turn those with thick bark such as walnut, cherry, elm, etc. As Bill said the cutting in the winter is better at keeping the bark intact.

[Tim Rinehart]

With big/soft bark, the other key thing for my approach is to make sure your final clean up cuts as a minimum are done in a push cut mode taking of just a little at a time. Even during initial roughing, when it comes to cuts at the bark, I will revert to push vs pull cuts to avoid putting too much stress on the bark, which can be ripped off too easily if doing pull cuts.
If you find that you've got some bark separating and you want to keep it, CA is not out of the question, but be sure you've applied some shellac or lacquer to surrounding areas to prevent CA staining...and keep your speeds slower, in general.
One thing I've noticed, is the nature of natural edge bowls is that they are more prone to flexure/distortion of the 'wings' while turning, and keeping speeds down (700-900 rpm seems to work for me) will minimize that distortion.

[Nate Davey]

When turning the bark portion of the bowl, i like to come from the outside in, this way it doesn't raise the bark. Had good luck with thicker bark this way. This one is Pecan

206552

[bob edwards]

206573This is a Walnut bowl about 9 inches in dia. Wall thickness about 3/16 at the rim. You have to go easy but it can be done. This piece is about 6 years old and sits on a friends coffee table. It is still intact. You can apply thin set CA to the bark that helps. If you choose to do that, paint lacquer, with a sponge brush around the edge in the cadmium layer. This will act as a sealer to keep the CA on the bark and off the piece.

[Mike Willeson]

Thank you all for the information and the examples. What a great forum this is!