Simple White Ash Bowl

[Bill in Buena Park]

Turned this one today from the stash of ash I cut up into blanks about 8 or 9 months ago. This is the first bowl I've turned from this ash, I'm still playing with shapes; the rest has been handles, and those pestles I made for the sieve colander. Very dry, very hard, had to resharpen the bowl gouges a few times. Also used my round carbide for hogging out the inside. The aroma of this wood while working reminded me of pumpkin. Sanded through 400, burnished with the shavings, and applied a couple coats of the friction polish. 7.5 inches across, 2.75 inches high. Thanks for looking.

[Ken Massingale]

That's a very nice bowl Bill, well done.

[Two Much]

Beautiful bowl, I would like a bowl like that for a fruit bowl.

Is ash a very strong wood? The reason I ask is, cause I know a lot
of dining room chairs are made from ash, so I'm assuming that it's
a hard wood, thus hard to turn???

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thanks for the kind words. White ash I believe is also used to make baseball bats, so yes it's kind of hard. Not as bad to turn as dry oak or walnut which results in more powder than curls when turning.

[Two Much]

Bill, our kitchen table is walnut. I mentioned in another thread that we refinished it twice
already, because of lots of little scratches. If it's so hard, why the scratches? Everything we've
made from oak is hard as a rock and no scratches. This puzzles me.
Joann
oh, What have you turned in Walnut? any pics of walnut turnings?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Joann,
For walnut and oak, by "bad" when dry, I guess I mean brittle, not hard. But dry oak IS hard. They may turn nicely when wet, but dry is my least favorite. Even for pen turning, I like how walnut burl looks, and have made some sweet gift pens from it, but its prone to chipping, tear-out and blow-out due to brittleness. I find purpleheart the same. I don't do much in these woods because of that. So the dry ash is hard, but still seems to cut better.

As with most of my bowls, I give them as gifts, so unfortunately I didn't photo the (first, and last) two small walnut bowls I turned.

[Two Much]

Ah, too bad about no pics. Is this bowl a gift as well?

[gerti]

Nice shape, and I like the detail on the outside under the edge! It looks very even, what too did you use for that?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thanks Gerd. For the detail marks on the bottom and edge, I use my carbide long-diamond-point tool, has one of these on it from AZCarbide: http://azcarbide.com/product/diamond...for-wood-copy/

Gives a nice fine point for lines. Wants a light touch and negative approach, can be catchy.

Joann, yes, this will also be a gift. I do have a blank or two from this ash that may yield a fruit-bowl yet. Might have to tackle that next.

[cwsmith]

That's a very handsome bowl.

I very much like the overall look and the detail touches you have added. I don't turn, but I would be so proud if I could ever produce something close to that beautiful.

Thanks for showing it,

CWS

[poolhound]

Very nice Bill I like the style. I got some ash logs from a local arborist. not sure how good they will be but will have to cut them open and see.