Wavy White Oak Bowl

Hey Rich
That’s super wood and beautiful bowl

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Rich,

This turned out really great!!

I admire you for having the courage to try the dyes and inlays. I feel happy when I get the ridges sanded out.

Lew

Rich another great looking project.

-- Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can't, YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

Very nice work I like the grain patern and dye.

-- David '65

Nice job. I like the shape and flow of the design and the wood has a nice grain and color to it.

I’m not sure where the analine dyes came into play. On the outside? I hope you don’t mind a couple of suggestions. Maybe do a little more sanding on the inside. I noticed some lines that look like sanding marks. You might be able to sand those out by hand with the lathe off. I’m still pretty new to turning and one thing I’ve learned is that you can’t always get the sanding marks out with the piece turning on the lathe. I’ve spent hours, days, weeks (no, not really) trying to get sanding marks out with the lathe running, and sometimes all it takes is to take it off the lathe and hand sand it. Don’t expect the the lathe to take care of all the sanding for you. It’s a finesse thing that can be very frustrating, especially to beginners like us. Time and experience will show the best way to do it.

Also, when you photograph things, leave more space around them so you can really see them. Except for detail shots, it really helps to be able to see the whole piece with some air around it. Photograph your main or “money” shot with the piece at its most flattering angle, one that shows off its features to its best advantage. Then you can show some of the details in tighter shots. It’s also better if you can use a very simple, plain backgorund, like a curved piece of photo backdrop paper. It’ll make your piece the center of attention without any distracting textural stuff going on in the background.

Keep up the good work and let’s see more.

-- Alan Carter, www.alancarterstudio.com

Very nice turning. Love the grain. Have also learned that white oak is like rock. Have a couple of more pieces I got to practice on. ( worng choice to practice! )

Very nice. Keep it up.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Alan, thanks for the suggestions. I need to spend more time sanding, and will try your suggestion of turning the lathe off to do it. I also think I am going to invest in a clip on light to better see the small ridges that are left.

The dye process is the one described by Trifern that he uses on his turnings. I used a water based black dye first, and then sand fairly aggressively. This leaves the dye in the grain only. Then I did a yellow dye, but didn’t sand very much afterwords. Just enough to get rid of any raised grain. Finally on the outside I did a mahogany stain, again followed by a light sanding. It really gives the wood almost a hologram effect. It changes color as you turn the piece. Pretty neat.

Again, thanks for your help.
Rich

-- Rich in Richmond

All I can say is WOW!

That is a beautiful bowl.

Fantastic job.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

The finish is amazing, I would not have guessed that it was Whtie Oak.

How do you apply the dye, is it sprayed or hand applied?

-- Jesse, Hopewell Jct., NY

great job on the bowl I 2 need towork on my photo taking skills as for the sanding try a power sander u can get them at woodturner catalog 30.00 bucks 4 the kit (including shipping) it will help u more than u know

-- Southernboy woodworks

Jesse, I have the dye already mixed up and in bottles. I just put a small amount on a paper towel and run the lathe at slow speed. I get it thoroughly saturated, and then use a piece of grocery bag to “burnish” it dry. Then I sand. It is amazing how quickly it will dry with the heat generated by the bag, and gives a fairly smooth surface. Don’t burn your fingers though!

Southernboy, thanks for the link. I am all about power sanding :)

-- Rich in Richmond

Just a very attractive turn. The shape and rich color is eye candy. Nice work and thank for posting. Blkcherry

Beautiful turning, much better use of dyes than my first try. You did a remarkable job. Kudos.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com