Elm Slab Bowl

This bowl was turned from a large bunch of elm I picked up from along the road about a year ago. I had cut a few of the logs in half, sealed them and then just put them on a shelf. I was going to rough turn a round bowl, but the wood seemed to be stable enough to just turn to finish. I decided to leave the shape the same as the bowl blank because there was some interesting grain from a small branch protruding out of it. I did add a little CA glue to hold that bit together, but the rest is holding on. I will be drilling a hole and adding a brass rod in order to enable this piece to stand on end as the last photo below shows. 13" wide and 3" tall and 4 coats of danish oil. Comments/critques are always encouraged and welcomed.

Spalted Maple

Finally had some time at the lathe in the shop...this one is spalted maple, 8" wide and about 3" tall. Finish so far is just one coat of danish oil, but more finish sanding and some more oil are in its future. The wood was punky and I almost gave up on it. Originally the blank was just over 16" square and the 4" or so were to far gone to save as was the other side of the log. Still this one has some great spalting in it and I was very happy to get back at the lathe.

And Now For Something Completely Thinner....

I've been turning quite a bit of thicker stuff lately. I will in continue to do so in the future too, but here is something thinner. I think it is hackberry, but not sure as it was found along the road on the way home from work last week. It's about 8" wide and 3.5 high. So far just danish oil finish, but I will be spraying some rattle can lacquer on it soon. The lip is just shy of 1/8" thick and the rest is just a little thicker and no signs of splits so far, some warping but that will add character IMO.