13" Soft Maple Crotch Bowl. Dyed Red Mahogany and Yellow.

[Bob Bergstrom]

This is soft maple crotch. It sands easier than hard maple, but it will absorb more dye and any scratches will go deeper. Dyed first with Behlens Red Mahogany followed by Transtint Yellow. Bowl is about 2" deep. Finished with sprayed cat-lacquer. It ended up looking a lot like red cedar.
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[John Keeton]

Now, this color I like!! What did you do on the rim - is it a touch of black? In any event, nice accent to a very well done bowl.

Bob, you sure have been cranking them out! I love turning silver maple - what we typically call soft maple here.

[Steve Vaughan]

Man, that's nice! Love the black rim, that really helps set it off I think!

[Bob Bergstrom]

Thanks John, the rim is nothing but a Sharpie drawn around the edge. I find soft or silver maple to really be a stable wood with few failures. It is a little fuzzy to work but sands easily and can have all the attributes of hard maple. We have a lot of it in the area and they are mature and becoming infested with ants so the city takes quite a few to the wood dump and that when I move in.

[Doug Herzberg]

I'm with John and your daughter. Both bowls are nice, but the red really does it for me while the green doesn't. I like the bead work around the feet and rims, too. Good job!

I've done some flat work with soft maple and you're right about the scratches going deep.

[Tim Chase]

Bob
Nice looking bowl seems like you have an endless supply of beautiful maple to turn. Nice to have the city allowing you to recycle
the pick of what they cut. Love the detail on the foot of this one.
Tim

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Bob,
Very classy bowl and the black rim that you say is " nothing but a Sharpie" does an amazing job of framing a beautiful piece of maple with a spectacular color. Nice!!!
faust

[David E Keller]

Lovely work… especially the bottom detailing. The black rim is a perfect frame, too!

[Bill Hensley]

It's a beauty. I'm really liking the black edge, nice touch.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice work. I like the way the rim frames the rest of the bowl!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bob I do like the bowl. It is a beauty. The black rim just sets it off.

[Kathy Marshall]

That's a beauty and the black rim is a nice touch!

[Dan Forman]

Gorgeous! Very good.

Dan

[Michelle Rich]

looking down into the bowl reminds me of a glowing campfire

[Pat Scott]

Have you ever used a sanding sealer first before dying? A nice thin coat of sealer sanded back and then apply the dye. Or is this not a good idea to seal first?

[Jon McElwain]

I'm with Keller - nice bottom detailing. Putting those details on the bottom says to me, "I put this much effort in the base that most people will not see, so you know I put a lot of effort into the parts that are seen."

I have a bunch of crotch pieces sitting and waiting for their turn on the lathe - it is pieces like this that make me collect them!

[Bob Bergstrom]

Sealing the wood would defeat the concept of layering the dyes. The first dye needs to penetrate the softer fibers and will sand off the harder fibers.