Textured Ash Bowl

[Kathy Marshall]

I cut another blank out of the ash log, to try my hand at texturing using a wire wheel. This blank also had a little bit of curl to it, but I fought off the temptation to get sidetracked into using any dyes.
I turned it into a calabashish style bowl. I got the inside turned and sanded, then removed it from the chuck and put my jacobs chuck with the wire wheel in the headstock. Then with the lathe running I held the bowl to the wire wheel, rotating it to follow the growth rings (the tenon on the bowl came in handy as a handle). The texturing doesn't show up well in the pics and it could be that ash isn't the best wood for texturing, but when holding the bowl, the contrast between the textured outside and the smooth inside has a kinda neat feel to it.
It's 7" x 4" with a coat of danish oil.
230431230432230433230434230435
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Brian Kent]

It's beautiful Kathy. Am I seeing correctly that the wire wheel digs in different depths according to where the grain is hard and soft?

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks Brian! Yes, that's the theory and on this one it did dig in more on the sapwood, but ash (at least the ash here) doesn't show much difference between summer growth and winter growth hardness. I think the effect would be more pronounced on a softer wood, or wood that has more variation between summer and winter growth.

[John Keeton]

Kathy, it is difficult to see the texturing, but I suspect the feel of the surfaces does create a nice contrast. This form is not a favorite of mine, but you did a nice job of execution.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Really like that curl! The photo doesn't show the texture... but I bet it feels pretty cool! Neat idea to use a wire wheel to embellish a piece. Will file that away for future reference! Thanks!

[Sid Matheny]

Very well done and the texturing shows well in picture #4.

Sid

[Doug W Swanson]

Looks pretty similar to a sand blasted effect. Nice job!

[steven carter]

It is usually hard to make an ash bowl interesting, but you have pulled it off with this one. The curl certainly helps, but I really like the calabash form.