Shallow Soft Maple Burl Bowl

[Rich Aldrich]

This is a soft maple burl bowl about 10" diameter x 1.5" tall x 3/16 thick. Finished with danish oil, buffed and waxed.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice form on this Rich, and beautiful wood.

[daryl moses]

Very nice!!

[Martin Drummond]

Another great piece

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Another nice piece of wood turned into a beautiful bowl Rich :cool:

[David Delo]

Somebody been busy with the maple......another well done piece Rich.

[Jamie Straw]

Such a nice piece, in a favorite wood for moi. Rich, would you be willing to share the prep you did on the wood before you finished it (or perhaps, given how soft and spalted it is, before turning). I'm very curious how people handle the spalted maple (have tons of it in my geographic area).

[Rich Aldrich]

Thank you all for the compliments. Actually there was no spalting on this piece. The burl just has the change from light to dark wood (almost like white wood to heart wood). Heart wood in soft maple can be pretty crazy - not very consistent. I watch the sawyers cut it at the mill sometimes, and it is amazing how wild the heart wood runs in some logs.

My process is to turn rough, soak in denatured alcohol for at least 48 hrs, air dry for an hour, paper bag for at least 28 days and return. I sand to 400 grit and make sure the last sanding is done with 400 grit abranet. I am very picky when sanding to get any tear out and tool marks removed. Then apply danish oil - wet it three times in 1/2 h our and wipe dry after 45 minutes. Then let it cure for three days, sand out any shiny spots. buff and wax.

For spalted maple, I normally hit the soft areas with CA glue so the tool can actually cut it without tear out. Sometimes it is successful and sometimes not. I plan to try wood stabilizer next time I turn spalted. Otherwise, I try to catch it before it gets too soft. That is hit and miss too.