Mulberry platter

[Nathan Hawkes]

Here's an 8" dia. x 1.75" tall mulberry platter; I turned this a couple months ago, but just got around to putting a finish on it recently. Its got a bit of burl in it, but not nearly as much as the surface of the log suggested. Oh well. I guess I turned most of the burl figure away. I sanded it to 400, then coated and wet sanded it with BLO to pop out the figure in the wood, then antique oil, followed by several coats of paste wax.






http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88955&stc=1&d=1211265038




http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88956&stc=1&d=1211265038



http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88957&stc=1&d=1211265049

[curtis rosche]

nice. i love to turn that stuff, like butter. i dont know what causes it but after a year or so that will turn a light brownish golden color. where did you find a peice that big?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nathan - that's a good looking platter! Love the grain pattern! Nice work!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nathan that is a great piece with some great grain patterns.

[Keith Burns]

Great platter Nathan with a surperb finish !

[Nathan Hawkes]

nice. i love to turn that stuff, like butter. i dont know what causes it but after a year or so that will turn a light brownish golden color. where did you find a peice that big?



Yeah, it turns great but it gets really hard when its dry. If you keep it out of the light, it does okay. I turned a little goblet for my girlfriend's daughter that is already quite brown, but it is in a very sunny room. I gave several away as gifts to family last christmas that are still very yellow, but I told them to keep them out of sunlight if possible. This tree was pretty big; the center was rotten, as the tree was dying, but it produced a huge amount of firewood and a large number of good turning blanks. FYI; mulberry pops a lot when burning, so its not good for a fireplace. I looked up the BTU output, and it is about the same as oak!!!! Heavy stuff for sure. I have a few blanks left that are 12" or so. I'll post them when I turn them....
http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88975&stc=1&d=1211303646

[curtis rosche]

because of how nice this wood turns color, you ought to play with it, put a sticker or pattern on the wood to cover part of it, then put in the sun, lemove the stickers so that the wood is different colors, that would look neat

[Nathan Hawkes]

I might try that sometime. The thing is, it would all melt together eventually. The ends of the logs I didn't seal (those I used for firewood) turned VERY brown; almost the color of very aged cherry; kinda red. I wonder if perhaps oxygen also has something to do with it. I know with wood dyes, some are UV resistant, and some fade very quickly, I don't know if there is a UV protector that is clear.