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| About the Urban Forest Wood |
The Urban Forest is a wonderland for the wood lathe artist. Your own yard trees, neighbors trees, or tree service are sources for salad bowl materials. Big trees of course are preferred, the larger the tree, the larger the bowl or tray. All parts of the tree can be used with some imagination. Forks of limbs often show feather like grain patterns. Root balls usually show wild grain patterns. Burls can be found and are often very rewarding for their unusual grain patterns.  Even the straight grained trunk of the tree can make a beautiful bowl accented with the bark of the tree or turned with a unique shape or embellished with surface carving, coloring, or burning.
Of the 20 or so urban tree species I have worked with I have labeled some as favorites. For beautiful grain both in color and pattern I like Black Acacia and Bailey's Acacia. They are both easy to rough turn from greenwood but difficult to turn once dry quickly dulling tools. Great care must be given to control their water loss during drying as they are prone to splitting. Walnut oil finish enhances their color. Bowls made from these woods hold up for years with detergent washing and immediate drying after use. Recoating with walnut oil from time to time maintains their beautiful color.  A second favorite is Black Walnut. An easy wood to work with green or dry. However, it does develop internal stress cracks when left as a thick block for drying. These cracks often cannot be seen from the outside of a dry bowl blank. Filling cracks with clear epoxy does a great job of hiding these cracks, even large ones, when they are exposed during turning. Best to rough turn the greenwood and carefully control the moisture loss to the dry wood stage before finish turning. Like the acacias, walnut oil finish is all the finished bowl needs.
Another favorite is Silver Maple. Some trees have wonderful birds-eye character in areas of the trunk or may spalt to give added character. Silver Maple is easy to work with green or dry. I rough turn it to a 1" thickness followed by careful drying. Warping is seen but the thick rough turned wall allows final shaping to correct warping. However, control drying is difficult as the wood gets a surface mold very quickly. The mold may stain deeply into the wood if it is not prevented or removed with a mild bleach solution as soon as it appears. Again, walnut oil finish is acceptable. I do prefer a high gloss finish like Behlen's Salad Bowl Finish for a lasting protection on this light colored wood.  I like are California Bay Laurel (Southern Cousin of Oregon Myrtle) for turning. It is a very smooth closed grain wood that turns very easily green or dry. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Laurel often has contrasting light and dark character that makes a beautiful bowl. Eucalyptus, Camphor, Box Elder usually have lots of grain character and do very well as salad bowls with the high gloss finish. Sweet Gum (Liquidamber) doesn't show a lot of character. Sycamore too is a rather plain grain wood. Pecan, Madrone, elm and Magnolia are other plain grain woods that need embellishments unless by chance they show you the character that makes a special turning.
For pure utilitarian purposes all of these woods serve well for salad bowls and trays. Now for vases, I really like Elm because it is extremely stable wood and a beautiful subtle character. It smells like a barnyard during turning but does not warp or crack when finished from greenwood to finished vase in less than a weeks time. Hollywood Juniper is another wonderful, colorful and stable wood for vases. Black Walnut and Silver Maple work well but will change shape in a few days when turned green and finished immediately. Valley Oak is known for changing shape and cracking soon after finishing. Still the grain patterns are wonderful and the other changes appear to enhance the finished Valley Oak articles. If you enjoy the wood lathe try all the woods in your area. The price is usually right (free!). |