Spalted Silver Maple Platter (BW148)

Here is a handsome platter of Spalted Silver Maple, from a large tree that grew in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts.  As in other pieces of spalted wood, you can find images of various things in the black ink-like drawings created by fungi. In the second thumbnail photo below, you can see the head of a howling wolf (at 10 o'clock position). This platter is 12-1/4 inches in diameter, 2-1/4 inches tall, and is finished with multiple coats of tung oil varnish, then buffed and polished with hard wax. It is silky smooth, with a semi-gloss lustre, and is a joy to touch.      Price: $175 Shipping: $12 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

The body of this delightful bowl is turned from a Briar Root burl; the rim is made of Claro Walnut and Aspen segments glued into contrasting rings. Briar Root burl is the underground root ball of the Mediterranean White Heath shrub, and is the prized wood that smoking pipes are made of. These burls are typically cracked and craggy, with embedded gravel, which makes turning them a challenge. But the wonderful color and subtle birdseye figure is worth the effort. This handsome wood bowl is 71/4 inches in diameter, 33/4 inches tall, and is finished with multiple coats of tung oil varnish, then buffed and polished with hard wax. It is silky smooth, with a semi-gloss lustre, and is a joy to touch.      Price: $280 Shipping: $12 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

A quintessential New England tree, Sugar Maple provides some of nature's most beautiful artwork when it begins to decay. Resembling India ink drawings, spalting is the random, unpredictable black line patterns that are produced when a fungus invades the wood, sending its rootlike feeding structures through it. If the wood is utilized before it gets "punky", the results can be stunning, as you can see in this spalted maple wooden bowl. This bowl has a natural edge rim, whose peaks and dips follow the contour of the outside of the log from which the bowl was turned. Although it appears oval because of the rim shape, the bowl is in fact round. It is 10 inches in diameter, 51/4 inches tall, finished with multiple coats of tung oil varnish, then buffed and polished with hard wax to a smooth, semi-gloss lustre.      Price: $140 Shipping: $12 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

Here's a Butternut bowl with Mahogany rim. Also known as "white walnut", the Butternut tree is becoming increasingly difficult to find in the New England forests, and everywhere else throughout its range, due to the puzzling spread of the Butternut canker fungus, which kills it. Sadly, it may be headed for the endangered species list. This bowl was hand turned on the lathe from one of those trees that had died. The applied rim is made of 12 segments of darker Mahogany to complement the somewhat lighter Butternut. In the second thumbnail below, you can see a small, curious, natural stain in the Butternut wood that resembles an insect, maybe a stonefly. It is 113/4 inches in diameter, 41/2 inches tall, finished with multiple coats of urethane oil varnish, then buffed and polished with hard wax to a smooth, semi-gloss lustre.     Price: $145 Shipping: $15 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

Here is a fine, large New England Black Cherry Burl bowl with a segmented rim, and it's loaded with burl figure (click on the closeup thumbnail below). There are a few bark inclusions in the burl, and thousands of tiny "pips". This is another of the burls that have been aging in a country barn for years, and have mellowed to the warm glow of old cherry. The rim is made of Tulip Poplar, with Mahogany and Bloodwood veneers highlighting the segments. The finish is multiple coats of tung oil varnish, buffed and polished with hard carnauba wax to a soft, smooth patina. At 13 inches in diameter, 31/2 inches high, this beautiful art bowl belongs on a dining room table... yours?     Price: $425 Shipping: $15 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

Gimlet Burl is from a Eucalyptus species that grows in the goldfields area of Western Australia. It is a hard, dense wood that polishes up nicely. This bowl features the reddish brown gimlet, with its attractive pattern of resin pockets, highlighted by a segmented rim of Slippery Elm with a maroon inlay ring.  Finished in tung oil varnish, buffed and polished with hard carnauba wax to a soft, smooth satin lustre, the bowl is 10 inches in diameter, 3 inches high. The third thumbnail below shows a coffee mug for size comparison.     Price: $275 Shipping: $12 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

Red Mallee Burl is probably my favorite of the Australian Eucalyptus species, with its striking red heartwood color outlined with tan sapwood. It's easy to see why Red Mallee is also favored by customers. This bowl features the rich red tones, loaded with birdseye figure; the contrasting light sapwood outline; the natural edge of the rim; and the natural spiky texture on much of the underside.   Tung oil varnish is the finish, buffed and polished with hard carnauba wax to a soft, smooth semi-gloss lustre. The diameter is 13 inches at the longest, 91/2 inches in the narrow dimension; the bowl is 11/4 inches high.     Price: $275 Shipping: $15 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

Here's a beauty of a bowl ... North American Black Ash Burl, with a complementary hardwood 12-segment rim. Thin and lightweight, this fine burl features hundreds of birdseyes. Also, approximately one quarter of it is an area of very showy curly figure that shimmers as you move it in the light (the upper right area of the bowl in the photo at left; see the closeup too), a 3-d effect known as "chatoyance".  Truly a very pretty bowl. Urethane oil is the finish, buffed and polished with hard carnauba wax to a soft, glass-smooth semi-gloss lustre. The diameter is 12 inches, height is 31/2 inches.      Price: $225 Shipping: $15 to U.S. destinations. Contact me for international rates.

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