Simple Pistachio Bowl

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

This stuff was a lot harder than I expected.

Alan

 

[David Johnson]

May be hard but is certainly beautiful grain. Nice.
David

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

A friend had the tree in his yard. It was a male tree and as such produced no pistachios. I got the main trunk which was about 6' long and 14" diameter at the base. When we cut it there was an incredible amount of extremely viscous resin sap. I let it lay for almost ten years and finally milled it the other day. I had lost a lot of the wood to rot and insects, which surprised me because it would clog a chainsaw with the resin. It's heavy as the dickens and the inner wood was still moist (with resin). It didn't foul the lathe tools though I sanded it to 180 grit and used beeswax to finish it. I'm happy with it and more importantly, #1 wife thinks it's beautiful!

Alan

 

[Ted Calver]

Nice bowl from some pretty wood.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Great-looking wood, Alan. The bowl looks very nice, too. I've turned a couple of small piece of pistachio and both were harder than woodpecker lips.

 

[steve ramsey]

Very nice grain pattern. Always nice to get the seal of approval from the LOYL. I get a kick out of mine: "What are we going to do with all these bowls? Oh that's really pretty you can't give that away."

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I've made things specifically for other people that we still have... "Here, this is for your aunt." .... "No, I like this one. I'm keeping it."

One (1) went to her sister and several went to charitable auctions. I gotta admit though that she does use them and puts them out to be appreciated.

So, I'll keep making them!


Alan

 

[Darren Wright]

Good looking bowl Alan!

 

[Tom Niemi]

Good looking bowl! absolutely love the grain!

 

[Chuck Ellis]

That is a pretty bowl.... does look a little like one I made from a Mimosa tree.

Yours has much prettier grain though.

 

[Dave Hoskins]

That is some really good looking wood. And, bowl, too. Never turned any of that wood.

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

When I lived in North LA there were lots of Mimosa trees everywhere, some of considerable size. There's not any down here that aren't in somebody's yard. Of course that goes for pistachio trees too. I just saved that log on a whim. Now I wish I had saved more of it.

I appreciate the positive feedback. I'm still a babe in the woods on this "turning" thing. Watching the you tube videos on how to use the tools properly has helped me a lot. There's a little more to it than just scraping away at it with a pointy steel thing.

I've got a bit of Cherry that I may try next.

Alan

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

The first attempt after getting the lathe set up properly is on the right with #1 wife's glasses in it in the pictures above. It was a piece of green oak. I stuck it in the lathe to see if I could get through a bowl without impaling myself. It looked great when I brought it in the house. In the two weeks since I made it it has checked a hole completely through it and is in the process of folding up like a taquito.

I've got a lot to learn about where in a log to cut a bowl blank.

Alan