The Teacher's Alder Bowl

The Teacher's Collection

+3

This wood came from the garage of a retired high school woodshop teacher. Over the years, friends would bring him pieces from trees coming down in their yards, and he kept what looked worth keeping. It sat there for more than a decade. He'd been unwell for a while and hadn't been turning much. Rather than let the wood sit unused, he wanted it to go to someone who'd actually do something with it. A car full came home with me -- a mix of species, some easier to identify than others. Maple and cherry for certain, and what looks like alder mixed through. Each piece will get sorted and worked out as I go.

13.14 -- the log, split

One log out of the mixed haul, red alder as best I can tell. It was already fairly punky, heading toward spalting.

Blanks cut from the log

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Cut into blanks. The softness that made this alder tricky to turn is the same thing giving it its colour -- the wood was already partway toward spalting.

On the lathe, bottom oiled

Roughed out and the bottom oiled to see what colour was actually in there.

Alder Bowl, 13.14

This alder came from a retired woodshop teacher's collection, saved from a neighbour's yard years ago. It was already fairly punky by the time I got to it, well on its way toward spalting -- softer to work than I'd have liked, but that softness is exactly what gave the wood its colour. Dark streaks run through warm honey tones that plainer alder never gets. Kept wide and shallow, more platter than bowl, so the grain has room to spread out and be seen. Finished with pure polymerized linseed oil and beeswax -- the oil is what pulled the colour out of wood that looked fairly unremarkable dry.