Black and White Ash Bowl

Vaughn McMillan

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ABQ NM
This is the ash piece I showed pics of a couple weeks ago with the nail in it. The nail was just the last thing I pulled out of the blank. Here's the total haul from that piece of wood. There's more in the other half of this log, but I haven't used my Powermatic rotary metal detector on it yet. (I did use the Stihl gas-powered metal detector already, though. That's how I know there's metal in the other half.)

Bowl 082 - 06 800.jpg

The finished bowl is 17 1/2" x 3 3/4", and it warped slightly...not enough to be very noticeable unless you're looking at the profile. Borrowing ideas from some of Curt Fuller's work, I patched the various nail holes with black epoxy, then finished the bowl with black TransTint dye, a few coats of Formby's Tung Oil Finish, then liming wax on the inside and outside, but not on the rim. The liming on the outside is more pronounced than on the inside, partly because the inside was sanded and finished twice. The first attempt showed me exactly how much liming wax highlights every sanding flaw in a piece. :doh: So I put it in the vacuum chuck and started back with the 80 grit. I eventually removed virtually all the dye from the inside, sanded back through 400 grit, re-dyed, re-finished, and re-waxed. In the process of doing that, I closed up the grain more on the inside than the outside, so it held less of the liming wax than the outside. It's a bit different, but LOML likes it.

Bowl 082 - 04 800.jpg Bowl 082 - 03 800.jpgBowl 082 - 02 800.jpg Bowl 082 - 01 800.jpg Bowl 082 - 05 800.jpg

I learned some things on this one that I hope to improve on in the future. I've got more ash in the driveway, so I'll probably play around with this idea on a few more pieces.

Comments and critiques are welcome and encouraged, as usual. :wave:
 
That's one cool looking bowl Vaughn! Great color contrast! I find I like the inside of the bowl a little better than the outside - just looks a little more refined/finished. I do like the effect of the liming wax! It does get you to thinking about different possibilities!
 
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