Doug Herzberg
10-22-2012, 1:28 PM
The Fetching Mrs. Herzberg returned from her mother's the other day with this bowl. Although my mother-in-law's memory is rapidly failing, we believe it was purchased in Japan in the early 1950's. She thinks it is either teak or monkey pod wood. I have seen many examples of "monkey wood" from the Philippines and it doesn't look like them. The grain is much tighter and the color more red. We also don't know if the missing piece fell out on its own or if the bowl was dropped. The bowl is pretty well soaked in gummy, dirty vegetable oil. The end grain is a little rough. I can't imagine it was sold like that, so I assume it has to do with water exposure in dish washing or something like that. On my monitor, the colors are fairly accurate - the inside is more red and darker because of the salad oils.
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There is a crack below the missing piece and another on the bottom, inside the foot, which doesn't go all the way through to the inside of the bowl. The foot is about 6-1/4" outside diameter and the inside is tapered out. The biggest jaws available for my SN2 are 5 inches. I thought about trying to leverage this project into a bigger chuck, but I just bought a new Stihl, so I'll be in the doghouse for awhile. I am thinking about forming a wooden faceplate to fit inside the foot and then using pressure between the headstock and tailstock to hold the bowl. This assumes I won't have to work inside the foot or at the very bottom of the bowl. There isn't much oil on the bottom, so I could glue a sacrificial faceplate on, then reverse the bowl and turn it off when I'm done.
My first thought was to cut off the sides of the bowl and make it into a platter. Since there is a crack started already, I'm a little worried it might continue when the tension is released as the sides are removed. I could fill the crack with CA before I start. Then I started wondering if there is any way it could be saved as a bowl, perhaps by turning off the damaged section and adding a new collar and turning it to match.
Any thoughts on wood species? Ideas on how to fix? Suggestions for a wood species to compliment or contrast with this wood if I try to add a new side? Techniques for gluing up, chucking or turning a new side? Would you try to turn a ring and attach it, then turn to finish, or just glue on a slab and hollow it out until it matches?
Thanks in advance for your help.
243760243762243761243763
There is a crack below the missing piece and another on the bottom, inside the foot, which doesn't go all the way through to the inside of the bowl. The foot is about 6-1/4" outside diameter and the inside is tapered out. The biggest jaws available for my SN2 are 5 inches. I thought about trying to leverage this project into a bigger chuck, but I just bought a new Stihl, so I'll be in the doghouse for awhile. I am thinking about forming a wooden faceplate to fit inside the foot and then using pressure between the headstock and tailstock to hold the bowl. This assumes I won't have to work inside the foot or at the very bottom of the bowl. There isn't much oil on the bottom, so I could glue a sacrificial faceplate on, then reverse the bowl and turn it off when I'm done.
My first thought was to cut off the sides of the bowl and make it into a platter. Since there is a crack started already, I'm a little worried it might continue when the tension is released as the sides are removed. I could fill the crack with CA before I start. Then I started wondering if there is any way it could be saved as a bowl, perhaps by turning off the damaged section and adding a new collar and turning it to match.
Any thoughts on wood species? Ideas on how to fix? Suggestions for a wood species to compliment or contrast with this wood if I try to add a new side? Techniques for gluing up, chucking or turning a new side? Would you try to turn a ring and attach it, then turn to finish, or just glue on a slab and hollow it out until it matches?
Thanks in advance for your help.