Live Edge Ash bowl

[Tom Baugues]

I've been working with my lathe more lately. I saw a post here from Ryan Mooney who turned a live edge bowl. It inspired me to try turning my first live edge bowl. This is just a piece of Ash wood. (not near as pretty as Ryan's Cherry bowl) but I was happy for my first attempt. It's only about a 4" bowl with 1/4" wall thickness but it stayed in one piece so I called it a success. I'm sure I'll try more of this once the weather warms up some.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Looks great Tom! If nothing else I find turning them a fun challenge and some folks seem to really like them as well

 

[Tom Niemi]

I love live edge bowls, yours is great! Nice work

 

[David Johnson]

Live edge does make statement. Nice bowl.
David

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Nicely done, Tom. Anytime you can get the bark to survive the ride it's a good day.

 

[Les Elm]

Looks great for your first go at a Live Edge.
Nicely done.
Les

 

[Chas Jones]

..........Anytime you can get the bark to survive the ride it's a good day.

Thin CA Glue rules!!

And Tom, if you ever have bits of bark letting go don't be afraid of doing a bit of creative reconstruction with the bits and dust from the shavings pile, judicious selection and a dab or two of wood dye and most folks won't see the join.
Just blend any proud edges in with sanding, don't try to turn them off,

 

[Jonathan Shively]

Chas provides great advice. When my students shut off their lathe and groan I know bark just flew. And it is always, "I just wanted to touch up the one spot and I would have been done!" Great looking bowl.

 

[Jay Caughron]

Nice job Tom it looks good

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thin CA Glue rules!!

And Tom, if you ever have bits of bark letting go don't be afraid of doing a bit of creative reconstruction with the bits and dust from the shavings pile, judicious selection and a dab or two of wood dye and most folks won't see the join.
Just blend any proud edges in with sanding, don't try to turn them off,

I'll second this. I've done the bark reconstruction thing a few times, and with a bit of patience and creativity, the repair becomes invisible. I've got two or three pieces on my shelves now with that kind of fix, and now I can't even find the repairs myself.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

I've got two or three pieces on my shelves now with that kind of fix, and now I can't even find the repairs myself

Same but I'm not sure if that says more about me or the fix...

I'll also pretty liberally use CA while turning as I kind of work down the edge to continually re-enforce it. I'm not generally a big fan of CA in woodworking but it's the cat's meow for things like this and I don't think it's potential weaknesses really work against it at all in this use case.

It's not a panacea against the rogue gouge move, but it does help the slightly looser than I'd hoped bark problem somewhat

The main downside is that thin CA can stain the wood some which makes finishing a bit trickier depending on the finish you use and whether or not that shows up. So some care in application can help reduce both the visual after affects and the amount of sanding required to try to ameliorate the issue.

 

[Chas Jones]

The main downside is that thin CA can stain the wood some which makes finishing a bit trickier depending on the finish you use and whether or not that shows up.

If you are using a cellulose sanding sealer in you finish routine then application of it to the localised area before applying Thin CA, this will reduce the risk of wicking of the CA