Lost a Big One This Evening

[Steve Eure]

Had a friend ask if I could turn a very large live edge bowl for her that would be approximately 15". I told her I would try. The only wood that size that I had on hand was some elm, so I cut out the blank with a chainsaw and finished with my bandsaw. This thing was massive for me and weighed around 40#. Took me a while to get it somewhat balanced. I cut a 5" recess and put it into my large jaws of my SuperNova2 chuck. Started cutting out the inside and BAM, the bark came off of one side and is in two pieces. Fits back on the blank perfectly, but I don't know if I can salvage it. The wood under the bark is wet and it seems a bit slimy to me. Wife suggested CA glue. I think I will let the blank dry over night and try it. What do I have to lose?
Any of you have any suggestions on what my next course of action should be?
Thanks,
Steve

[John K Jordan]

Had a friend ask if I could turn a very large live edge bowl for her that would be approximately 15". I told her I would try. The only wood that size that I had on hand was some elm, so I cut out the blank with a chainsaw and finished with my bandsaw. This thing was massive for me and weighed around 40#. Took me a while to get it somewhat balanced. I cut a 5" recess and put it into my large jaws of my SuperNova2 chuck. Started cutting out the inside and BAM, the bark came off of one side and is in two pieces. Fits back on the blank perfectly, but I don't know if I can salvage it. The wood under the bark is wet and it seems a bit slimy to me. Wife suggested CA glue. I think I will let the blank dry over night and try it. What do I have to lose?
Any of you have any suggestions on what my next course of action should be?
Thanks,
Steve

Many people have glued bark back on successfully. Slimy cambium layer suggest it might not have been cut in the winter, was it? If the bark came off on one side I wouldn't be surprised if it more came off with a little encouragement.

If gluing, I'd probably use tape as well. A friend of mine turned some impossibly unstable pieces by turning the outside first then wrapping with strapping tape before turning the inside.

But is she expecting the bark? Some natural edges look nice without the bark.

JKJ

[Steve Eure]

Yeah John, she wants the bark. I will try the glue and tape and if that fails I'll try and talk her into natural edge. Beggers can't be choosers can they. Fortunately she knows the risks and may be willing to do without the bark. Thanks John.
Steve

[Paul Crofton]

probably a stupid question but with the moisture available would gorilla glue work where you wet half and glue on the other half. What other kind of glue or epoxy would you use.

[daryl moses]

Moisture actually "triggers" CA glue to set.
But not sure about the slime.

[Richard Coers]

If the cambium is slimy, it takes very little effort to peel off the bark. When the bowl had dried, the bark would no longer been flush with the wood since bark doesn't shrink. Good luck with the repair, but I think you should definitely wait until the wood is dry. If needed, you can saw the bark into sections and then bed it in epoxy with very little clamping effort.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Wipe the slime with alcohol, mix some sanding dust from the bark of cut offs into some 5 min epoxy. Coat the rim and bark and tape it back on. Let it cure overnight. Turn the bowl to finished size( hopefully about 1/2 “ thick in the walls. Let dry for a couple to 3 weeks. Finish turning the bottom. Here’s a Good YouTube on turning natural edge bowls.

https://youtu.be/4bYWW4rXaYQ

[Steve Eure]

Well folks, I saved it. It took some epoxy and a ton of CA to hold the bark on, but it was worth it. The customer is very pleased with the outcome. I need to finish sanding and piut muy finish on it and I will call this puppy done.
The original blank was over 40#'s and shook the bejeezees outta my Laguna 18-36. I was able to turn at 240 rpm's until I started on the inside of the bowl. Then the max I could do was 550, but it cut fine. Just had to take my time in doing this and not get impatient.
The final measurements are 13"x16"x7".
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