What are your favorite woods for natural edge? (Persimmon bowl inside)

[Jeremy Leasure]

I stopped and asked about a sycamore tree that had broken at the base, and while I was there he mentioned he had the electric company take down a persimmon tree too. I've turned 2 or 3 natural edge bowls. One of oak, one hackberry and this one from persimmon. Might be one I'm leaving out but it must not have been very good if I can't remember it with my limited bowl turning experience Anyway, this is my favorite so far. Something about the bark seems...Primordial. I was wondering what others favorites are, and which ones seem to hold bark the best. Some general tips on natural edge would be great too. IE, width vs depth, what shapes tend to take advantage and accentuate the natural edge and so on. Post photos if you got em.

Here is the rough out I did of the persimmon:



A piece of oak I found on the side of the road, spalted:



and a hackberry I did right before Christmas for my sister:

[Jason Silva]

Walnut!!!Walnut1.jpgWalnut2.jpgWalnut3.jpgWalnut4.jpg

[Jeremy Leasure]

Very cool, I haven't gotten any walnut turning wood yet. Your last photo is what I had planned for when I get some hollowing tools. What did you use to hollow and smooth the inside?

[Russell Eaton]

Jason that last bowl is rockin'. Nice job.

[Roger Chandler]

I really like the persimmon bowl............the color contrast of wood and bark are striking to look at. I like the yellowish hew of the persimmon wood in the pic..........I have never turned persimmon, so I don't know if it is the lighting on the camera in this picture, or if persimmon naturally has this color............

[David E Keller]

Nicely done, Jeremy! That persimmon looks like a chunky monkey and that fits nicely with the ragged bark edge. I think the prettiest NE bowls I've seen have been walnut bowls... Mark Cothren's work comes to mind immediately!

[Jeremy Leasure]

That's pretty much what it looks like Roger. When you first cut it, it's quite a bit lighter. It starts to darken up getting closer to orange in a few hours though.

David, I turned it thick because I read that persimmon moves quite a bit. Wanted to have room to make it round later. I have more to experiment with though. I've never tried turning one really thin and finishing it out on the lathe and letting nature take it's course. Yet.

[David Starks]

ive got a ne redbud bowl keller made and i think it looks cool. its turned pretty thin too.

[Eric Gourieux]

Although I've not turned tons of NE bowls, I've had the best results with walnut and pecan.

Nice job on your NE's!!!

[Kathy Marshall]

Nice job Jeremy! I'm partial to the persimmon, the chunky bark is cool and a nice contrast to the wood.
Since you asked for pics, here's a couple I've done.
The 1st is mesquite and the 2nd is cherry that I turned a couple months after I started turning. Both were turned green to final size.

2-25-15.jpgne cherry 3b.jpg

[Jeremy Leasure]

Nice, looks like I need to find some wood with contrasting sapwood. All the free stuff I've lucked into so far (aside from the oak piece) has been single toned. I'm going back for the rest of the persimmon today or tomorrow. Chainsaw croaked on me the other day.

[Thomas Heck]

IMG_0402.JPGIMG_0403.jpgIMG_0397.jpgIMG_0398.jpg

Here is a couple I'm working on. They are green. The bark seems to be holding on good. I'm afraid to go too thin and tear off my bark.