Sweetgum bowl

[Aaron Craven]

I was pretty proud of this one (though it's hardly perfect), so I thought I'd share. The wood is heavily spalted (but not at all punky) sweetgum. Finish is MinWax wipe-on polyurethane. The finish took forever because the endgrain drank up the poly. Someone elsewhere suggested using sanding sealer to avoid that in the future, so I'll probably be trying that.

The orange staining on the side bugs me (I live in an area with lots of red clay, so it looks to me like I dragged the piece through the mud), but it's apparently something else. I thought maybe mineral deposits, but a fellow turner told me it was probably a fungus that made the stain.

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[Brice Rogers]

I have recently turned a liquid amber. I think that it is basically the same as sweet gum (same wood - - different name?). I have a couple of orange blotches on some of my bowls too. Also, mine was spalted. So I think that the orange is kind of a natural result of the spalting process.

I've had some similar issues with the end-grain porosity.

Nice looking bowl.

[Alan Heffernan]

That is a beautiful bowl and I like the finish. The spalting is striking.

You have motivated me. I had a huge tupelo gum fall last year and it is cut up, laying down the hill in the woods. I need to go retrive a piece and see what it looks like! Tupelo is of course a different gum but I think they are somewhat similar wood. Very, very hard to split once dried.

[Aaron Craven]

I have recently turned a liquid amber. I think that it is basically the same as sweet gum (same wood - - different name?). I have a couple of orange blotches on some of my bowls too. Also, mine was spalted. So I think that the orange is kind of a natural result of the spalting process.

I've had some similar issues with the end-grain porosity.

Nice looking bowl.

I had to look it up, but I think they are the same (or at least same genus). The tell-tale clue around here are the sweetgum balls they drop ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Liquidambar_styraciflua_MHNT.BOT.2006.0.1265.jpg/1280px-Liquidambar_styraciflua_MHNT.BOT.2006.0.1265.jpg ). They're a bit of a nuisance tree, actually, when you don't want them... only way to get rid of them (except with chemicals) is to fully remove the root ball. Otherwise a new tree will sprout from the stump of the old. The wood is characterized by interlocked grain, so boards tend to warp and check badly. Like many around here, I used to write them off as worthless for anything other than firewood until a friend gave me these spalted pieces. After turning the first one (pictured below), I stand corrected!

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[Aaron Craven]

That is a beautiful bowl and I like the finish. The spalting is striking.

You have motivated me. I had a huge tupelo gum fall last year and it is cut up, laying down the hill in the woods. I need to go retrive a piece and see what it looks like! Tupelo is of course a different gum but I think they are somewhat similar wood. Very, very hard to split once dried.

If it spalted as nicely as this one (this was given to me by a friend), it would definitely be worth it! As I understand it, it's difficult to split due to the interlocked grain... but it's pretty easy to turn when dry. You can't get as smooth of a surface as with close-pore wood like maple or cherry, but it still finishes fairly nicely -- seems best to me with a relatively glossy finish. Lacquer might be better than poly, but I've not worked with it yet, so I don't know for sure.

[robert baccus]

Liquidambar styraciflua, commonly known as sweetgum is a loner--no relatives. White sapwood and beautiful streaky browns for heartwood. Often sold as satin walnut. The sapwood warps like crazy but the heart is more stable. Beautiful as bowls and veneers. Take all precautions against warping if sap is involved. Double turning with endseal is recommended. Spalts nicely also.

[Thomas Canfield]

Nice job on the spalted wood. I have seen the orange stains on some spalted Sycamore and Pecan here recently and guess it is result of fungus like the spalting. It does add a little extra feature to the already striking wood.