Dave Smith
12-25-2003, 11:33 PM
I have received a lot of wood from a local lady I have known for more than 20 years. When I cut down a small English walnut tree she didn’t want I also cut off a cherry tree stump in the corner of her yard. The wood was pretty but it was a little rotten and also cracked a lot while drying. I started this bowl more than 2 years ago. There were many applications of CA glue due to soft areas and at one point I wet sanded with thinned linseed oil to fill cracks. I must have set this bowl aside at least 4 times because it needed more CA glue to stabilize the soft wood. About a month ago I was rummaging through my box of “I'll do it later” turnings and decided to give it one more try. The base was finished with a lip for mounting using the expansion mode on my strong hold chuck. The bowl was true but there still were problem areas and those darn cracks. After applying some more CA glue I decided to try sanding with Rocklers polyurethane gel. Much to my surprise it worked pretty well and the slurry filled the cracks and stiffened the soft areas at least on the surface. After the poly dried I power sanded the bowl to 600 and applied several coats of polyurethane gel finish.
The bowl sat around a couple of weeks waiting for me to sand the bottom and sign it. I missed trying to sell the bowl at 2 shows because it wasn’t done. Tuesday night I finally sanded the bottom and as I was signing it I decided to write “Thank you Eva” under cherry. Wednesday afternoon I called Eva and asked her if I could drop off the bowl when there wasn’t any thing going on. She told me she was going to a neighbors later that night. The neighbor invited her because since they both were widows they wouldn’t be alone. When I arrived at her house she was waiting for me at the door and her chocolate lab nearly knocked me down. Noah likes to play and he thought that was why I had stopped by. Eva was happy to get the bowl but she was happier to talk with me. She showed me some old family pictures she had just received then she had to take outside and show me where she was expanding her garden area. Eva is in her late 70's and farms vegetables and flowers that she sells at farmers market. She also keeps about 10 bee hives and extracts the honey with a manual extractor. She is quite a lady and I need to stop by more often to see her and Noah. I am glad I kept this bowl and decided to give it to her Christmas Eve because it is the best gift I have received in a long time.
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry3.jpg">
The bowl is about 8" x 8" and 1/4" thick. The figure was worth the effort to save the bowl and the gift I received was priceless.
Dave Smith
Some times I do good things on accident in Longview, WA.
The bowl sat around a couple of weeks waiting for me to sand the bottom and sign it. I missed trying to sell the bowl at 2 shows because it wasn’t done. Tuesday night I finally sanded the bottom and as I was signing it I decided to write “Thank you Eva” under cherry. Wednesday afternoon I called Eva and asked her if I could drop off the bowl when there wasn’t any thing going on. She told me she was going to a neighbors later that night. The neighbor invited her because since they both were widows they wouldn’t be alone. When I arrived at her house she was waiting for me at the door and her chocolate lab nearly knocked me down. Noah likes to play and he thought that was why I had stopped by. Eva was happy to get the bowl but she was happier to talk with me. She showed me some old family pictures she had just received then she had to take outside and show me where she was expanding her garden area. Eva is in her late 70's and farms vegetables and flowers that she sells at farmers market. She also keeps about 10 bee hives and extracts the honey with a manual extractor. She is quite a lady and I need to stop by more often to see her and Noah. I am glad I kept this bowl and decided to give it to her Christmas Eve because it is the best gift I have received in a long time.
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/eva/cherry3.jpg">
The bowl is about 8" x 8" and 1/4" thick. The figure was worth the effort to save the bowl and the gift I received was priceless.
Dave Smith
Some times I do good things on accident in Longview, WA.