Making Bowls

Turning bowls is an art. It can be fun, frustrating, meditative, and a myriad of other experiences, all within the space of an hour. One thing making bowls has taught me is acceptance. The wood is what it is; and will be what it will be. It's my job to shape it into its most beautiful expression- sometimes that's a bowl.

It's hard work starting with raw timber. There are extra steps and inherent challenges that come with the process of milling. Most woodturners purchase pre-cut materials with specific projects in mind. This would be expensive, and in my mind, wasteful of the resources all around me. I'd rather go to the extra work and know I've made a difference in the life of a tree, than purchase the perfect wood for my project.

Once or Twice Turned?

Many woodworkers only turn a bowl once because they use already seasoned (dried) blanks. This is untenable for me because of my mission to repurpose local trees (in Oregon, where it rains most of the year). I would need to store the rounds/blanks for months (or years!) before turning. I have tried seasoning some timber in my garage, but it has developed splitting and cracking, grown fungus, or simply not maintained its original quality. Soooo... I find that turning green wood (twice) is practical and more enjoyable. It also lets me create as soon as the tree is collected!

I call this the rough part because it takes the most elbow grease to accomplish. Outside of the final product, I actually find it one of the more satisfying aspects of woodworking. The exercise of my "grit" muscles makes me feel more alive.

I'd prefer not to strip the bark off the logs so we can try live edge bowls, although, thus far, it has been unavoidable. On the first tree, the bark just crumbled off. It seemed safer to take it off before the milling and turning (where the lathe would cause it to fly off at 50mph). The second tree, a pine, was taken down because it had a fungus. The bark had to be removed to stop the advancement of the fungus and dry it out. We treated it with essential oils, and it's some of my most beautiful pieces of art. The third tree had an invasive beetle infestation, which had horrific creatures beneath the surface. Don't worry, we dealt with that in an arduous 1-month period in Winter 2024-5 before they could spread any further come Spring.

Here are some pictures of the process: