The Oak Was Hard

Back in March, I bought some oak from Scottish Wood in Fife. I made a shallow bowl from one piece, but kept another for a large platter. It had a few shakes in it, and a couple of huge knots. I cut it to a rough circle about 15½” in diameter on the band saw, before mounting it on the face plate to rough turn it.
Unfortunately one of the knots gave way, meaning there was a large uneven surface on one side of the rim. While I like the rustic look and prefer to keep knots, cracks etc. this would have made turning the platter very difficult. I took it back to the band saw and removed the rim where affected. This means the platter ended up about 12½” in diameter. Still a good size but I was disappointed to have lost so much of it.
After losing the rim, I exposed a deep crack in the timber, which was treated with almost a full bottle of thin CA glue. I also removed the other knot and re-attached it with thick CA glue and brass powder. I poured thin and medium CA into the remainder of the visible shakes and cracks hoping it would hold together.

I left it a full 24 hours before continuing with the turning.
Thankfully it held really well, including the hugely cracked piece. It was extremely hard going however, meaning the bowl gouge had to be re-sharpened every 5 minutes or so.
I think it was worth it.

The timber has some lovely marking, and I think the remaining cracks add character.

The huge knot in the bottom is nicely accented by the powdered brass.

The cracks help make it look how I envisaged.

I visited Brodies Timber at Inver mid-week and purchased some cellulose sanding sealer, a tin of Danish oil and a block of camphor laurel. The camphor will (hopefully) become a square bowl.

News of the band saw is on the “My Machines” page on from the main menu.