Sycamore bowl - looking for shop-teacher type teaching.

[Brian Kent]

This is a bowl from my fresh supply of wet sycamore. I like how it ended up artistically, but I made two mistakes. I have plenty of wood so I don't have to save this one.

1) I thought things were going well hand sanding with the lathe on. It is sanded to 400. When I applied the oil/wax finish, this band appeared just below the widest point. It shows in pictures 2 & 3. It starts and stops consistent with the warping that happened while turning wet wood. I can leave it, toss it, or try to repair it. Now that it has oil & wax can I still fine sand it by hand or with a power sander?

Note: This is really thin. There is no thickness available to spin it again. Since I am trying to learn the properties of this wood, I tried thinning it until it is translucent.

2) I made the bottom of the bowl deeper than the bowl. It goes into the foot I was planning to remove, I I'll have to either clean up the sides of the foot and leave it or put it on a little stand with a recess. Or toss it.

Or I can just use it in bright sun where the bottom part is in a shadow.

[Glen Blanchard]

Brian - Don't you dare toss that. Although the angle in the photos is not ideal for assessing form, I love the form as it appears from these angles. I think this piece looks great. I say finish it and display it proudly in your home!

[robert baccus]

I like it. I find those bands, on my bowls, are usually a bit of torn or bruised grain and I failed to sand enough with the coarse/medium SP. They just love to pop out later. You can always give it to someone that's not as discriminating as you. From here it is #1 from every aspect.

[Pat Scott]

Nice looking bowl (or hollow form?).

I agree with Robert, the darker band is bruised wood which can be caused by rubbing the bevel too much or too hard against the surface. This could have happened because it was getting thin and flexing and you were still trying to maintain bevel contact. It's usually better to re-cut this area to get rid of the marks (but not now of course). If you try and sand it away I've found that it takes a lot more time with 80-grit sanding to try and get rid of the marks.

In the 3rd picture I see some cracks or checks. Were these there when you turned it or did they develop while sanding? If the piece is thin and you sand too much, the wood will heat up and you'll get "heat checks" or cracks like the picture shows.

[Fred Belknap]

No expert but if I have to sand after some finish is on I do it by hand with a soft interface. By hand I mean with the lathe stopped and sand with the grain. It takes quite a bit of work but sometimes a bruise or tool mark can be erased. With a piece that thin I duno. You did a great job on this one, hate for you not to be happy with it.

[Brian Kent]

I hand sanded (off the lathe) the base edges and the problem transitions with 320 grit. Then the Beall Buffing System helped make the textures more consistent. Now most of the color and texture changes are those that exist in the wood itself.

The warping is just fun.

[terry gearhart]

I love the warping, and the bowl.
My question would be:
If the wood was /is wet, maybe after turning it
not to the final stage, it would have been
better to have left it dry for a few months

[Brian Kent]

I think you are right, Terry. I'll different techniques. I will rough out a couple and let them dry before final turning.

Yesterday I turned some very dry sycamore from another source (two years in firewood pile) and it was like turning hardened power. Even with fresh sharpening on a bowl gouge and 3 kinds of scraper, I couldn't get it thinner than 1/2" before it would do a shake and grind. But it is stable.

Hoping that sycamore dried for a couple of months will be a nice compromise.

[robert baccus]

I love the shape and color--in fact I love several shapes in this one.

[Richard Coers]

If you have more of this wood, why turn a piece with checks and cracks?