Liquid amber, not the amber liquid

[Gra]

Got some time in the sehd this weekend, decided to breakout a piece of wood I picked up a couple of years ago at a forum get together, I think it came for RSSER, it was a chunk of Liquid Amber. From memory he sold it because a similar piece was a PIA to turn. He was right, it tore out randomly and needed much use of the 80 grit gouge to come up anything decent, but now its over it looks stunning, a couple of places it has fiddleback that looks almost like silk.

Dimensions 195MM across and about 45 MM deep


280697 280698 280699

[SNAFU11]

Nice job there Gra and a nice piece of timber :2tsup:

Mick!!!

[rsser]

Glad to hear you got some use out of it.

It's come up well.

I've never come across a timber that was so hard to finish. Sucked up buckets of DO.

[pommyphil]

That's interesting Ern, A couple of months ago I brought home a ute load of LA, roughed out 10 big ( 400mm+)bowls and last week
had a couple down to 12mm. Lovely to turn green and nice half dry, no exciting grain but I've been playing with Camphor.....:rolleyes:
For a finish I thought WOP for fruit and nut oil for the " dough bowls " but always open to suggestions ????

[DaveTTC]

nice finish nice bowl, my neighbour has a huge one growing atm ;)

[rsser]

Trees and parts of trees vary so your mileage is likely to vary.

If had to go back to my bits re finish: would go for a base of thick sanding sealer (NC or shellac), enough coats to start to peek through, and then an oil-based finish. Let sit for 3 months; should be food safe by then.

Instead of oil over sealer, ubeaut hard shellac undiluted could be a good option. Have had good results with that on Deodar salad bowls, and that's saying a lot.

Poly finishes, with or without sealer, should work too.

A book could be written about the options and principles.