Spalted Sugar Maple Burl Bowl (22WS5) SOLD

This sugar maple burl came from central Wisconsin. The burl was old and starting to decay. Most of the bark was gone from the burl and the rest came off during turning. Most of the bowl has a live edge, but the two elongated ends were carved smooth to complete the rim. The trimmed burl is shown attached to the lathe. The wood was punky and showed a lot of spalting. I decided to turn it since the spalting patterns looked interesting. The wood needed to be stabilized in the punky areas, so I applied cyanoacrylate resin which acts as a wood hardener. This worked well. The dark patterns and zone lines are from spalting (fungal action that happens as decay starts). The interesting lighter patterns are less common but also result from spalting. There are also some rays of curl (flame, chatoyance) visible near the edges of the bowl. As a wood starts to decay the curl patterns fade and this has happening here. The wood also has some bark inclusions from old branches. These are sealed and stabilized. The colors and patterns in this bowl are very nice. The darker central area shows the burl while the lighter parts of the wings show the main log. This bowl tells the story of a burl, with its beautiful grain figuring, on its way to being decayed into soil.  The bowl was turned using handheld tools on a lathe from wet wood, dried for several months, and sanded to 400 grit. The bowl was sealed with two coats of tung oil, hand sanded after each coat, and finished with a buffed thin coat of beeswax and walnut oil. This finish is considered food safe so this bowl can be used to display food. This bowl has beautiful spalting patterns and nicely shows the transition from burl to log.

 

 

All my bowls are can be returned for a full refund if you are unsatisfied for any reason within 60 days. You must only pay the return shipping.

All of my bowls come with a laminated card with images of the bowl and burl, a complete description of the bowl and making process, and the artist's bio on the back side. There is no price on the card so it can be used if the bowl is given as a gift.