Cottonwood cutoff

[Doug Herzberg]

This is from the other side of the pith from a bowl blank I roughed out on Thursday. Very wet. 8" x 2" x 1/8", Minwax Gloss WOP, waxed & buffed. Comments and criticism appreciated - how else will I learn? Thanks for looking.


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[Ted Evans]

My what a pretty bowl, nice job. I cut quite a bit of Cottonwood in Montana but never saw anything like this.

[charlie knighton]

Doug, pretty piece

ya might try making a press from plywood bottom and a couple slats on top, use some retread to clamp them together, that way you can turn to finish thickness and it will not warp as much vertically, it may still go egg shape somewhat with you

[allen thunem]

I dont see a thing wrong with it. very nice abstract shape. certainly nothing you could have designed into the piece.
after all, design and beauty are very subjective. if you liked the end result then you have succeeded.

[Roger Chandler]

Very colorful wood.........the soil composite elements likely made the roots pull the colors up..........makes for a nice bowl.

[John Keeton]

Doug, I would say you lucked into that wood. Most cottonwood I have seen is pretty bland in color, though it can have some nice figure at times. Nice bowl with a twist!;)

[Deane Allinson]

Nice bowl and figure. I like the warping, it adds interest to an already interesting piece.
Deane

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is some pretty cottonwood and like the bowl. Cottonwood I have gotten has been pretty plain Jane.

[Jim Burr]

That has all sorts of good goin' on Doug. Nice luck on the blank too!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow - that is some pretty wood! I like the natural warp to it!

[Michelle Rich]

now that is pretty wood. nice floppy rimmed bowl

[Doug Herzberg]

Thanks for the comments. I agree it's pretty wood, but I don't know about luck, John. This 35 year old tree was at a house in Denver we rent to our kids and provided the main shade for their back yard. I had to pay $900 to the tree trimmer to take it down (I kept the crotches and several sections of the trunk) and will spend a few thousand re-landscaping the yard this summer.

This is the second cottonwood tree I've cut and both had this coloring. Both were older and dying, as this species often does after about 50 years or so.

It's a great wood to practice shear cuts. It tears out easily and there's a lot of hand sanding if you miss it on the lathe.

I haven't been a big fan of most floppy bowls, but now that I have one, well, I'm getting used to it.

[Greg Just]

Very nice cottonwood. As others have said, it is usually pretty plain. There is a lot of cottonwood in this area and I say "No" to most of it unless there is a crotch piece. Nice job with some very pretty wood.

[Doug Herzberg]

Very nice cottonwood. As others have said, it is usually pretty plain. There is a lot of cottonwood in this area and I say "No" to most of it unless there is a crotch piece. Nice job with some very pretty wood.

Greg, I've heard that the settlers in MN used a lot of cottonwood as a secondary wood for furniture making. In flat work, the fibers leave a fuzz which takes a lot of sanding, but sometimes you use what you have.