Wide Rim Spalted Maple Bowl

This has been an interesting project for me. There was a problem with mold growing on the outside of the bowl. For more on this here is the link to the post on the MOLD. This is a piece of maple that I had spalted recently.

After turning the outside of the bowl it was too wet to sand, I wasted $3.00 in sanding disks before I gave up. I have had this happen before so I needed to allow the wood to sit for a day or two and get some of the moisture out. I also didn’t want it to crack so I put a plastic bag on it with a little water inside of it and off I went. I came back a few days later to discover the entire outside was covered in surface mold. After getting some help from other LJ’s I cleaned off the mold and continued to turn the bowl.

PROBLEM, as I cleaned up the outside I noticed some surface cracks. I did the best I could to fill them in with CA and sawdust to try and stop the cracking process. As I was turning the inside of the bowl I noticed a dark line forming from top to bottom as I turned. I thought this was some hidden grain in the bowl, NOT! It was a crack from the outside of the bowl busting through to the inside. When I stopped the lathe I realized there were two cracks that went from the inside to outside of the bowl.

Again I filled the holes with CA and continued to turn. The wood was flexing too much so I decided to stop turning the inside of the bowl. Even though I did not get it as smooth as I would have liked it to be.

In the middle picture on the left side you can see one of the cracks.

For all of the hassles and headaches I believe it came out fine.

The dimensions for the bowl are as follows (All are approximate):
Top rim diameter – 11”
Foot of bowl – 3 ½”
Rim overhang – 1 ½”
Bowl height – 5 ½”

Please feel free to leave any comments or critiques, they are all appreciated.

Thanks
Rob

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