green woodworking

My tree identification capabilities are woeful.  I can manage a few when I can see their leaves, but in winter, without leaves, nada.  I live near a forested public park.  A few months ago, a crew removed a number of trees that were crowding one of the roadways.  I stopped to pick up a couple of logs.  My first impression was oak, but after doing a lot of tree bark images searches I now doubt that it is oak.  …and I haven’t yet found a good, comprehensive, guide to identifying by bark.

FWIW, it looks like the staining is associated with beetle holes.  Whether useful for anything else, the longer one makes a good chopping block.

Can anyone name that tree?     [Leave a comment.]
(Click an image to access a slideshow that offers a “View full size” link. Then, click again.)

Thanks!

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Silver Maple. Length: 14 1/2″  Width: 5 3/4″  Height: 3 1/8″  Finish: food safe flaxseed oil

This bowl comes from the other half of the log that bowl #1 was found in. As David Fisher advises, this split remained in a plastic bag to retain moisture during the few weeks I worked on the first bowl.

The split piece weighed just over 22 pounds as I started work.  The completed bowl weighs 1.6 pounds.

About 90% of the waste is hacked away in about 10% of the total bowl caving time.  The remaining 10% takes the other 90% of the time. The first part, with axe and adze is the most fun with big chips flying.  As the shape is refined the chips get smaller and smaller and when the carving needs to be more careful.

This time, I took more “process” pictures along the way:

Eva stopped by the shop a few times to take some videos.

Silver Maple. Length: 15 1/4″  Width: 5 5/8″  Height: 2 3/4″  Finish: food safe flaxseed oil.

A neighbor is removing some maple trees that are too close to his house for comfort.  This bowl is from the first log I carried away, originally a primary branch about 8″ in diameter and 20″ long. Thanks, Gerry, for the logs.

Every project is a learning experience.  I have to thank David Fisher’s video series of bowl carving instruction on the Fine Woodworking site for his teaching.

Since it was a first project, I was timid about taking photos of the process.  It could have easily ended up as firewood, and why waste the pixels on that?  Oh, I forgot: pixels don’t cost nearly as much as film used to. 

Lesson:  David Fisher advises that the pith should always be removed.  His reasoning is to avoid splitting and checking problems due to the pith moving at a different rate than surrounding fiber.  In this case, I had to flatten the bottom numerous times as the pith was squeezed and bulged out.  It’s still not absolutely flat, but in no danger of toppling over.