Spalted Oak bowl

[Curt Fuller]

This is my first bowl from 'spalted' wood. It's spalted oak that came from Pensacola, Florida. I'm not sure what species it is other than oak. One side is very soft and punky and it almost crumbled away while turning. Then because it was so soft it flattend out that side while sanding. It's also warping and distorting a little now. I thought it was drier than it was but I guess the lightness of the wood was from it being nearly rotten on the edge. Hopefully it won't crack now. Its 8" by 3.75", finished with tung oil and Briwax.

[Dick Parr]

Very nice Curt. I haven't had much luck turning oak let alone punky oak, but you did a great job on this one. Nice shape and finish on it.

Great job.;)

[Michael Stafford]

Now that is an attractive color you don't see often in oak and you displayed it to its best with your bowl. Good job, Curt!:D

Next time try some Minwax Wood Hardener on the punky areas and see if that helps the softness. There are other solutions to this as well including saturating the soft punky areas in CA glue but that will sure drive up the cost of finishing.....;)

[Dennis Peacock]

Very nice Oak bowl Curt.!!!! You can expect it to distorte some due to the nature of Oak. Oak moves the most of any wood I've ever experienced.

[Jim Ketron]

Nice Bowl Curt!
It does have some interesting colors!

[Andy Hoyt]

Nice action in that Curt. Be just about right for a double dip of Amaretto Almond

[Ernie Nyvall]

Nice work Curt. Yea the Minwax wood hardener would have helped you out quite a bit. I've also heard of a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water, but you did a great job keeping it together without anything.

Ernie

[Mike Ramsey]

Great looking bowl Curt! If you hadn't mentioned that it's Oak
I would have said it's spalted Pecan...

[Mark Cothren]

Nice bowl! And I'm with Mike that when I saw the picture I thought Pecan.

Great colors!

Thanks for the pictures!

[John Hart]

Nice action in that Curt. Be just about right for a double dip of Amaretto Almond

That's exactly what I was thinking....Only, I prefer Häagen-Dazs Coffee...and a little chocolate syrup.....and maybe some whipped cream...and uh.....excuse me...I gotta go to the store. ;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice bowl Curt. Love the color and grain.

[Bob Noles]

Great work Curt. I really like the grain and the spalting in that piece.

[Bill Stevener]

Very nice turning Curt. Rather interesting coloring in the wood, wonder if that is a result from the decay process or something in the soil during growth.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Ed Scolforo]

Good job on that bowl, Curt. The wood has some interesting colors, I wouldn't have guessed it was oak.
Ed

[Jim Dunn]

Curt, it's chocolate for me with chocolate syrup. Nice bowl too.

[Curt Fuller]

Thanks for all the kind words.

As to the wood, we were talking at a woodturning club meeting about spalted wood. Around here in Utah we don't see it very often because of our super low humidity. I said I'd never turned spalted wood so Clead Christensen who owns the shop where we meet gave it to me. All he said was that it was from a couple oak logs he got while in Pensacola Florida. I'll have to ask him some more questions at the next meeting.

Pralines and Cream does it for me!