Challenge Accepted - Gnarly Root

[NazNomad]

Today's haul from the tip contained this rather heavy rootball...

I trimmed off all the arms & legs then halved it with the chainsaw...

Big faceplate mounted - no holes left unscrewed on this ugly lump...

Hmm, this is going to be about as balanced as Charlie Manson...

Couldn't spin it more than about 180-200rpm because I feared the Earth would be shaken off its axis.
It's slightly less unbalanced now.

it can sleep like that in the shed all night and dream about what it wants to become tomorrow.

 

[Nelsun]

I'm glad you killed it. Scary looking beast of a thing!

 

[MattRoberts]

Yeah! You show that root who's boss.

 

[NazNomad]

If it's fail as a bowl, I'll just turn it all into 'bathing material' for the chickens. it will never be a total loss. :-D

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yeah ... no waste. In the winter all my chippings, shavings and dust goes into any small cardboard boxes I've saved and into the stove. Unfortunately I've no room for poultry, much as I'd like to keep some.

 

[gregmcateer]

Yeah ... no waste. In the winter all my chippings, shavings and dust goes into any small cardboard boxes I've saved and into the stove. Unfortunately I've no room for poultry, much as I'd like to keep some.

Small stove, then? Surely room for just a little guinea fowl, if not a whole chicken? :wink:

Sorry, hat, coat...

 

[NazNomad]

The outside came out quite nice.

The inside is hollowed out but I've had to leave it very thick-walled because daylight was showing through it in places and I chickened out .

 

[gregmcateer]

That looks a real beaut.

Are you going to leave it to dry then re-turn, or just leave it au naturel?

 

[NazNomad]

I have no idea how long it's been out of the ground but it wasn't very wet, surprisingly.

I'm not putting it back on the lathe once I've finished the inside later tonight, it can end up whatever shape nature (and central heating) intended for it. :-D

I can't turn the bark off it, there will be nothing left - nothing resembling a bowl anyway.

 

[Woodchips2]

Well done Naz, not for the faint hearted :roll: =D>

I like bowls with bits of the bark left on but they're not easy to apply a finish. Good luck with it.

Regards Keith

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Please don't turn away the crrap - it'll be a piece of plank.

 

[NazNomad]

If I turned away the bark it would be two wall sconces. :-D

A couple of upskirt shots, whole thing finished with Black Bison clear wax.

A few tool marks in the bottom but it's never going back on the lathe so we'll call it an 'Amish Bowl'. 8)

 

[NazNomad]

I like bowls with bits of the bark left on but they're not easy to apply a finish.

An old toothbrush to wax the nooks & crannies. I wasn't after a Rembrandt. This was one of my usual ''omg, can I make something out of that?'' projects.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Nice, lovely bit of marbling there, any idea of the species?

 

[NazNomad]

Treewood, definitely treewood :-D


Looking at the way the root has been confined, I'm guessing a hedge, which around here would suggest Beech, but I honestly have no solid idea.

 

[NazNomad]

OH loves it but all I've done this morning is find fault with it. :-(

 

[woodfarmer]

In my eyes that is a lovely bowl. Really asserting itself as coming from a tree and not plastic.
One of a kind type.


I try from time to time to do the same, but my current bowl has been fighting me for some months

 

[Bm101]

OH loves it but all I've done this morning is find fault with it. :-(

Fwiw Naz. You made a lovely bowl from landfill. If you weren't your own harshest critic you'd never improve. I think you did a great job personally. I really like it too.

Perhaps it's true you can't make a silk purse from a pug's ear. Pugs have tiny ears after all. (Generally a rubbish dog really in the dog scheme of things.). I never really understood that expression tbh. You'd never fit your all your change in one anyway. So why bother. Meanwhile you could fit a load of fruit in that bowl. And your OH loves it.
Win win. Your OH thinks you're a God among woodworkers, your kitchen gets a free fruit storage facility and you get a tiny reminder each time you see it that there's always another step to take on the road to turning enlightenment and a state of nirvana.

 

[finneyb]

From the bark on the first post I'd say it was Pine

Brian

 

[Water-Mark]

Could it be hawthorn?
Seems a bit twisted to be pine.

Either way i think it's stunning.
One of the best things about working wood is the "faults" within and the features it creates.