Utility Bowl in Syacmore

Ted Calver

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Yorktown, Virginia
11" x 5" with half inch walls and a walnut oil (Mahoneys) and Beeswax finish. Kind of clunky, but built for abuse. From a blank I've had for several years... it was like turning concrete.
 

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Sycamore? In the UK it's a white wood much favoured by pyrographers for it's lackof detail and grain . Hard to believe that this is the same wood. Nice enough bowls but much darker and with a whole lot more figure than our version.

Pete
 
Pete,
Platanus occidentalis (American Sycamore) for sure. You can see some of the typical quartersawn fleck pattern in the rim. Haven't turned any London Plain Tree (Platanus x acerifolia) yet, so I don't know what the wood looks like. The two look the same except except for their fruit-- one ball for the American version and 2 balls for the London...(don't go there). I've been planting the London version for years as street trees because it tolerates city conditions and abuse.
 
Ted,

Many Sycamore trees have gone through my saw mill and I also have turned several and yours looks much darker than any I have seen. At first I though that you had used a stain or something that turned the wood dark.

Just so you understand where I am coming from -- S.W. Missouri -- I live next to a creek with many Sycamores and my graduate work is in Plant-taxonomy..

I believe what you have written and variations do happen...

best to you.
 
Paul,
This one was a volunteer on an empty industrial lot less than a quarter of a mile from the Portsmouth waterfront and the naval yard. It apparently liked the high water table and lord knows what kind of minerals and industrial waste it was thriving on. I noticed the unusual reddish heartwood coloring as I was cutting it and saved the off cuts to make some small boxes with. If I can lay my hands on them I'll post a pic. Unfortunately, the contractor hustled the main trunk off to the land fill before I could snag any more, although I have a few blanks left. I spent five years at SUNY ESF. Had enough taxonomy to last me :)
 
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I really like this one, Ted. :clap: The slight inward curve towards the rim and the wide band at the rim are a really nice touch.
 
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