Rough Woodturned Weepy Cherry Bowl

Natural Edge Weeping Cherry roughed out. Here are a few images from a little time in the shop this evening. A fun piece to turn. Like last night’s project, this bowl is just over 9″ in diameter and about 4″ tall at it’s tallest edge. The wood is still wet and must dry before I can finish sanding it and applying finish. I’m excited to see how this looks once oil is applied.

There’s a neat story behind this wood, but I have to wait until I’ve completed a number of pieces from this wood in order to share the story. It’s a good story. And it will be about 3 – 4 months before I can finish this bowl and other pieces in this project. Each piece must dry slowly in order to control the reshaping of the wood during the drying process.

The bottom is recessed a little with a button in the middle. I like to shape the bottoms of bowls so that when someone feels the bottom, their want to see what it is that they are feeling.

I produce a lot of wood shavings when turning. To slow the drying process, I pack the bowl full of the shavings that came out of it, then wrap it in newspaper. About 6 – 8 layers. Then set it aside to dry for 2 – 4 months. The shavings and newspaper release the moisture very slowly, reducing the likelihood of the wood cracking.