Stanley Park Maple Burl Bowl

Stanley Park — the woodworker's collection

This wood came from the personal collection of a local woodworker who had done arborist work in Stanley Park. He saved pieces from trees that came down and kept them in his garage for over forty years. After he passed away, that collection came to me. The pieces include yew, cedar and maple burls. Each has its own grain and its own journey through the workshop, but they share this beginning.

Stanley Park Maple Burl

+3

This maple grew in Stanley Park. When the tree came down, a local woodworker kept the burl rather than let it go to the chipper. It sat in his collection for over forty years before it came to me as slabs. Maple burl keeps its secret on the outside. Once cut, the face opened into a dense field of eyes and swirling grain. I marked out the bowls directly on the slab and cut them out on the bandsaw.

Cutting the blank

+2

Cut from the slab on the bandsaw, then mounted on the faceplate.

Shaping & hollowing

+6

Outside shaped first, then flipped and hollowed. The figure stayed hidden the whole time, waiting for oil.

Maple burl bowl — 7.5 x 2.5, shallow open form

+2

Kept shallow and open, just over seven inches across. Burl this busy wants room to be seen. The walls are left with some weight to them, which suits the wood. Some of the natural voids are part of what makes this piece itself. Finished with pure polymerized linseed oil and a little beeswax. Nothing more.