Mulberry Bowl/Plate

[Burkhardt]

This is a small bowl/plate (about 8"x12") made from a 1 1/4" quarter sawn Mulberry slab. It is nicely figured, going from bark to sapwood to heartwood and it shows an interesting ray pattern. Since the remaining shell is only about 0.2" thick, the work holding was a bit of a challenge. Got to improve that for future such projects.

I still have a pile of wood from that tree in the backyard, chopped it down some 10 years ago. Unfortunately I cut all pieces down to turning bowl blanks. I wish I had made some boards from it.

[Ajcoholic]

I love that!!

[wberminio]

very nice!!

[myxpykalix]

yeah but you didn't have a shopbot 10 years ago so it's hard to know what you might do with wood. It does show some neat grain patterns for sure

[Burkhardt]

....It does show some neat grain patterns for sure

I guess Mulberry is hard to come by commercially; I have never seen it offered. But get it if you can. It is rather soft and easy to machine but pretty tough to break (for Andrew: a Mulberry chair would really look nice)

For the pictures I took it out into the sun to really show the grain. It varies from almost white sap wood to dark yellow and sometimes brown heart wood (very similar to Osage Orange wood). I have a few other pieces that have fabulous stain streaks from nails and termites in the tree.

Unfortunately, from my experience with some bowls that I turned from this wood, the heart wood will darken to a soft brown over time. Still very pretty but not as spectacular as freshly cut.

[mikeacg]

Beautiful wood! Has almost a Koa look to it in some of those pictures...

Mike

[Joe Porter]

Beautiful work as always...joe

[Burkhardt]

O.K., not Mulberry but I kept working on my wave software. This time a bigger bowl made from 11"x15"x2.8" Baltic Birch plywood block. (4 sheets laminated).

A bit wasteful, since I shredded more than 90% of the wood. But I am happy with the result. The remaining wall is only 3/16" thick. I could possibly have made it thinner like 1/10" but then the bowl would have been too fragile.

I used a 1/2" 4-flute ballnose cutter at 1" full flute depth and 200 ipm to keep the machine time down. That took about 2 1/2 hours for the entire bowl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o7I-1tlhuM

Then some sanding, light stain to highlight the plies and laquer.
The intended use was like seen below, to keep some decorative items. Or maybe as a high end water bowl for a dog


But the back side looks also nice, although it made my wife ask if I am now in the sombrero business...


Now, the next step will be joining the wave feature with the maze software and make a wavy maze. As you can see I am having some fun here

[myxpykalix]

I have heard your species of wood used here called "Arkansaw Zebra wood" Good job G