Oregon Myrtlewood Bowl, Enclosed

My son Matt made this (with my help) for Mom for Christmas. What at first looked like a somewhat bland piece of mystery wood my Dad gave me, turned out instead to be a very nice, pretty piece of Oregon Myrtlewood. Oregon Myrtlewood, also called California Laurelwood, is a hardwood with a wide variety of colors depending on the minerals in the soil where it is grown - from light tan to dark brown, olives and reds, and blacks from spalting. It is noted as one of the world's most beautiful woods. This bowl, and all my bowls, are finished with mineral oil and beeswax - the mineral oil brings out the natural colors, and the beeswax protects the wood and adds a satin sheen. It is food safe, washable, and ready to use.

The bowl is 5.5" diameter and 4" high. Price for a similar bowl: $55.00

Walnut Bowl, Enclosed Form

This Walnut Bowl is about five inches in diameter and 1-1/2 inches deep. Walnut wood is hard, dense, tight-grained, and polishes to a smooth finish. Cutting it on the lathe is like carving chocolate. It smells kind of sour when cut - I guess that keeps me from wanting to put the shavings on my ice cream... It can vary in color from creamy white sapwood to deep brown heartwood. It's long been a favorite for gun stocks, and also popular for guitar bodies. The finish is mineral oil and beeswax so it's food safe.

With this one, one challene was how to hollow it out without specialized hollowing equipment. The other challenge was sanding the inside - sticking your fingers in through a 3" opening with a sharp edge on a lathe spinning at 1200 RPM is a little troublesome - the sandpaper would catch and my fingers would get bounced around inside the rim like a marble in a bowl that you're shaking - ouch. They make specialized tools for both jobs, but unless someone orders enough of these to cover the cost, I'm doing it the old hard way - hence the extra charge for enclosed forms.

Enclosed bowls are the price of the wood plus $1.50 per square inch of profile. This bowl would be about $19.75 plus shipping.