The Process

The last few days I’ve posted pictures of bowls I’m making from some beech logs (and the shavings that process produces). The entire process from log to finished bowl takes about a year. The bowls turned from freshly cut logs are put in the “soup”. The soup is a very big plastic trash can filled with denatured alcohol. The denatured alcohol displaces the water in the green bowls and kills any critters that might have bored into the log. The bowls stay in the soup for at least three days.

Next the bowls are coated in a special wax. I use Anchor Seal. The waxed bowls are wrapped in brown paper. We put the the date on the paper and stack them on shelves to dry. They stay in brown paper for 2-3 months. The wax and paper slow the initial drying process. Bowls shrink as they dry. If they dry too fast they crack. After 2-3 months the paper is removed. We save the paper and reuse it many times.

Taking the paper off is kind of like Christmas. Pennie likes to unwrap the bowls, she really likes Christmas. I’ve learned a lot about how to prevent cracking and have reduced the number of bowls that become firewood. My losses are down to 5-10%. Some cracks I repair when I finish turn the bowls. The unwrapped bowls are re-stacked on the shelves for 6-9 months.

Finally the bowls are dry. When wood dries, it shrinks more in width than it does in length. The dry bowls are egg shaped. They are remounted in the lathe and turned back round. This process is also like Christmas. The wax obscures the grain, figure and color. Turning the bowls round to their final thickness reveals the beauty of the piece. The bowls are sanded and oiled and are ready to be re-homed.

Dry bowls waiting to be finish turned. I usually have about 200 ready to finish.