Thread: Melaleuca Fruit Bowl

John it looks pretty solid get it down to 1/2" and see how it looks then.

Refine the shape inside and out to blend together.

I agree with jim you wont know how thin until you get there. maybe leave a "horisontal" rim/lip or something to give the top a bit of strength.

I looks as if the finish will be spekky

Cheers

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it's green, very green so it's gonna move like hell when it's finished.

John, the natural color of this bowl looks great, personaly I would like it to use a transparent colorless stain of lacquer for finishing.
For such a large bowl a wallthickness of 12mm is just fine.

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I'd tidy it up a bit & leave it chunky, about 20mm to 25mm wall thincknes with a 100mm foot.

If it's green, I'd be inclined to leave it as is for about a year. Let it settle and clean it up then.
BTW Like the worm holes etc, they give it heaps of character

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it's green, very green so it's gonna move like hell when it's finished.

Maybe not as much as you think! I just finished a bowl in Black Ti tree (melaleuca bracteata) that I roughed out 3 months ago and it didn't move much at all. On an 8" bowl I only had to take off about 4mm to get it true again.
As a footnote, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned - a little bit of tear-out that cleaned up with a shearscrape, sanded nicely and showed some nice colour. Little wonder a turner/collector mate in Townsville was keen to get hold of some!

What Cliff said. If it doesn't move much, fair enough. But if it does, you're covered and can remount it to make round again.

It'll be an Ooh-Ah bowl when it's finished.

John...if you ever thought about doing some carving on a bowl, this just might be the perfect candidate at the stage it's in now.

Really nice color & figure to that wood....like Skew said, it'll be a "Ooh-Ah"

Looks good John.

Wot Jim said.

I like the sloping top rim.

But keep a sharp eye on how it dries - my only attempt with green M. went so out of round as to be useless.

What ever you do it should look fantastic I love the worm hole it give it character.

Originally Posted by TTIT

Maybe not as much as you think! I just finished a bowl in Black Ti tree (melaleuca bracteata) that I roughed out 3 months ago and it didn't move much at all. On an 8" bowl I only had to take off about 4mm to get it true again.

Thanks for the heads up Vern

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

What Cliff said. If it doesn't move much, fair enough. But if it does, you're covered and can remount it to make round again.

It'll be an Ooh-Ah bowl when it's finished.

I've got it down to 20mm wallthickness nowl let's home it doesn't move too much. No two pieces of melaleuca I've turned have behaved in the same way, very unpredictable stuff I've found.

Originally Posted by rsser

Looks good John.

Wot Jim said.

I like the sloping top rim.

But keep a sharp eye on how it dries - my only attempt with green M. went so out of round as to be useless.

I like the sloping rim also. I've seen your oval M. bowl, got one just like it .
Ern 'll probably need to make a trip out to your place to make use of you Cole Jaws so I can finish the foot. PM or email me when it's convenient.

Thanks everyone for the advice given so far, I'll post more pics later today.

Nice looking piece there!
Can't wait to see it finished.
Looks like we have the same lathe - Jet 1642?

Originally Posted by steck

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Looks like we have the same lathe - Jet 1642?

Yep.