Leave it, fill it, or turn it away?

[Brian Kent]

This is a bowl made from loquat wood. It is hard, but smooth to turn and sand. The cracks / inclusions are stabilized with CA.

Would you:

1) Leave it as it is and keep finishing with WTF?

2) Fill it with stone?

3) Turn away the rim to get to clean wood?

4) Add a lid?????

I thought it was done until my wife said, "Is it done or are you going to keep working on it?" :rolleyes:

[Allan Ferguson]

Leave it as is. Allan

[Paul Williams]

I would leave it as is if it is a decorative piece, and I would fill it with a dark material such as burnt coffee grounds if it was going to be functional.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Leave it!!

[wes murphy]

1+ on leaving it

[Roger Chandler]

Turn it away........I think it will be a much nicer bowl if you do.................just my opinion!

[Sid Matheny]

1+ on Turn it away!


Sid

[Mel Fulks]

The contrast of the dense stone like wood with the dark place is so strong and so dissimilar . I'd lose it .

[charlie knighton]

+3 on leave it

[Ben Darrah]

I would leave it.

[Marc Himes]

If it was mine, I would consider turning away enough rim to lose the tounge-like projection in the major inclusion, but I would not want to turn away more than that.

[Mike Cruz]

Leave it...

[Jon Shank]

I'm with Marc. I like the look of the inclusion but that loose looking bit would drive my OCD nuts. I think the form works great with the inclusions though, the nice regular hemispherical shape leaves a great canvas for the natural art of the inclusions. I would think the coffee grounds or a dark wood filler to make it more solid might save the loose bit. Nice work on a nicely charactered piece of wood though, save it!

Jon

[Pat Scott]

I'd turn it away, but not all of it. Like Marc said, turn enough to lose the little piece that looks to be held in place by more bark than wood and could break off. We're only talking 1/4" or 3/8" that needs removed, the bark that will be left will look cool.

Cut down to the line...
271595

[Clif Moore]

Leave it!!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Didn't SWMBO already tell you the correct answer? ;)

Are you selling it? I personally like those inclusions, cracks, repairs, worm holes, all of that stuff. BUT some buyer may not, and you could lose a sale. If it's turned away, the decision not to buy will never exist.

[Mike Cruz]

Then again, some people buy BECAUSE of the inclusions and uniqueness. Otherwise, what sets it apart from any other bowl?

Leave it the way it is. The way it turned out is what the wood was "saying" to you.

Bottom line though, as I said to Roger when he asked about worm holes: If it is art, leave it. If it is utilitarian and the voids/inclusions keep it from being "used", fill them.

The thing is, I don't see how these inclusions would keep this from being "used" anyway. Not like it was going to be a soup bowl. And, sorry I don't remember how big it is, but it isn't likely to be a large salad bowl, is it?

[Ken Glass]

Leave as is with one addition. Fill the area with epoxy and Stone flakes for a unique appearance. .02 more cents worth.

[Brian Kent]

I averaged together all of the votes and expanded.

First, I took off about 3/8", which de-emphasized the inclusions but kept the form of the bowl. That is the bowl in the middle.

Then I took the other half of the same crotch piece and turned it to exclude inclusions, but leaving a tiny bit of bark on one side. That is the bowl in the left and in the 3rd picture.

Finally, I cut two pieces off the small log that was next to this on the tree, and made a pot with lid. This one is risky since the pot and the lid both include the pith and it could crack all over the place, but I'm fine with that.

Thank you for all of your comments that helped me think this through.

Brian

[Jeremy Hamaker]

I would have said leave it. Looking at what you did do, I have to say that it looks really great in this form, too! Excellent work.

[Tim Rinehart]

Definitely leave it. I like the shape, it's got a nice calabash shape to it. If you wanted to add some fill, a little bit might add some splash of color, but really up to you. I like the inclusions.
Nice work!