turnings #8: red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning

I found a nice 5’ piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:

I really slacked off on pics of this turning. This is the only one:

In it, I’ve cut the end from the plank to square it up and remove the chipped edges. Then I cut 2 pieces off as long as the plank was wide (7-1/4”). Then I cut some squares of birch from a length of scrap and carefully aligned them, center-to-center, gluing them to the red oak panels with Titebond II glue. I used a piece of birch to clamp them and did them one at a time as it only needed a half hour to be ready for unclamping. More than a full day later, they were ready. I’ve only turned one so far, but I made another time-lapse out of all of he separate processes:

There’s still more work. The finish applied above is Zinsser SealCoat, which is dewaxed shellac in a 2lbs cut. I only did that to see how it would look. I’d not yet ever shellacked oak. It still needs to be buffed up and topcoated, the bottom sanded up a lot to round the bowl a bit more and lift it up off the ground, and the bottom block needs to first be cut and chiseled away. I’m considering cutting large semicircles out of the edges with the band saw to give more of an impression of arched legs, like The Encounter restaurant building at LAX, and to better show off the suspended bowl bottom. I supposed I’ve tired a bit of the square shape in the 10 days since turning it.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator