White Oak

[daryl moses]

This is my rendition of a Calabash bowl. Before turning it I did a lot of research on Calabash bowls and found there were many "styles". Mine looks nothing like a traditional Hawaiian Calabash. I don't dislike the looks of a the traditional bowls but didn't like it enough to make one. I found a couple that look somewhat like mine and liked the shape and form better.
As the title states, it is White Oak, is 12" in diameter and stands around 5 1/2" tall. It's quite heavy as White Oak tends to be heavy. It finished out a bit over five lbs. I roughed it out in September and finished it last week.
It only took two coats of WOP to give me the finish I found pleasing.
C&C appreciated.

[Roger Chandler]

Nicely Done, Daryl. I did a lot of research on Calabash bowls as well in prep for a couple of demos I did on the subject. I have done a few since then, and you are correct about it not being the "traditional Hawaiian" style. It is nonetheless, a very nice calabash bowl.........more in the style of some that Pat Kramer and David Chung have done.

Here is a link to one of the demo bowls I did.....I did not take the pic, nor do the sanding and finishing. One of our club members asked after the demo if he could finish it and donate it to his son's drama club at school to help the club fund a trip to Scotland..........

https://www.thewows.com/picture.aspx?p=17663

[William C Rogers]

Daryl, nice job. I like the form. I haven't turned any white oak yet, however a club member is bringing me some. I'm going to try a similar bowl. Finish looks very nice.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Daryl - that is a good looking bowl! Nice job on both the form and the finish! You say this weighs about 5 pounds - so I have to ask how thick is it? The lip area looks like you have it fairly thin and if that was consistent throughout the bowl, I wouldn't think it would be all that heavy.

[David Delo]

sweet looking bowl daryl. good form and your finish does show off the timber nicely.

[daryl moses]

Thanks Roger, I checked out your Calabash bowl and I like it a lot. Looks like they did a good job sanding and finishing it.
William I hope you get a chance to grab some White Oak, it's not my favorite wood to turn although it does turn well. Thanks for your comments!!
Steve, I must of had a brain fart when I weighed the bowl, I too thought it was way too heavy. I put it back on the scale this morning and it weighs a little over 4 lbs. Still a heavy bowl though. I tend to make the walls of my bowls a little thick, this one is around 5/16" at the rim and pretty consistent down to the bottom.
One reason I think it is a bit heavy is because of the fact that on the very bottom it developed a couple of hairline cracks during the drying process. When I returned it to the lathe I went as deep as I could until I started seeing signs of the cracks. This left the bottom around 3/4" thick. I did use some CA glue on the cracks which did stabilize them. I won't have to worry about this bowl blowing off the table that's for sure lol.
Thanks as always David for your kind words, as you know turning Oak can be hit or miss. I wish I had known about the shoe polish finish earlier I think it might of enhanced this piece. I rough turned two more White Oak bowls this week, they should finish out around 13" and am anxious to give the shoe polish "trick" a try on them. I will find out in about six months lol.