Name that wood....part 3

[TLM]

It was much whiter than that, very pale when I first got it.

Lignin (a polyphenol) will turn dark in sun light no matter what.

 

[Nice65]

Lignin (a polyphenol) will turn dark in sun light no matter what.

True, and it has been oiled many times too. Personally I’ve no reason to think it’s anything other than Holly.

 

[Toddy]

The grain, etc., look like holly, just that the colour looks more like apple or pear wood.

I have bowls that are literally less than 2mm thick at their edges, and even now and they must be at least eighty years old, they are sound and crisp.
One of bird's eye maple comes to mind. It belonged to my Grandmother and she'd been given it as a present from her Mother. That Grannie died nearly sixty years ago, and I have no idea when her Mum died before that.
So, the bowl is old, but very sound.
What did they do back then to stabilise timber apart from leaving it to season thoroughly?

 

[Stew]

I find it hard to believe that shallow bowl is holly. The thickness has to be done in stages = rough out turning then dry for a year+ then finish. Might be the only one of 20 which didn't crack.

The entire genus of holly species (Ilex sp) have snow white wood. English Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is a common plantation here in southern BC, valued for it's density as axle shaft bearings in corrosive atmospheres where steel fails (pulp mill digesters).

Plenty of turning is done as green wood straight to a thin finish.

 

[TLM]

What did they do back then to stabilise timber apart from leaving it to season thoroughly?

As a first guess it is the brine soak.

 

[Robson Valley]

Here in the Pacific Northwest, First Nations carvers keep their alder masks soaking wet until nearly finished. The very act of thinning relieves a lot of the shrinkage stresses. That's why you see cracks in poles, etc but not in dishes and masks.

Wood turner aquaintance, "Spinner," can make a one piece cowboy Stetson hat with no cracks.

 

[TLM]

Hmmm... Yes, like a bowl shape has more degrees of freedom available to change shape and not crack when drying causes differential strains.

 

[Robson Valley]

I've never used a lathe to carve a dish. Blocks of western red cedar, yellow cedar and birch. I have a Tlingit dish design book, but until I settle down and put another crooked knife and another adze together, it ain't gonna happen.

 

[Nice65]

Just an addition regarding the Holly splitting. Here is a slice I just found while clearing the house, it was originally intended as a coaster. It was cut from green Holly many years ago, and has never split or cracked.

 

[Kadushu]

The holy grail for many a wood turner is to turn a piece so thin that the sun shines through it. I did this with a green piece of beech a few years ago. Turned a bowl out of it the same day as it was felled. I oiled it well so it didn't crack but it warped quite catastrophically and wouldn't sit flat.

 

[TLM]

It was cut from green Holly many years ago, and has never split or cracked.

A fairly thin slice dries axially, radial drying is the killer splitter.

 

[Broch]

The guy that gave me my pole-lathe course uses a lightbulb inside the bowl he's turning to see how thin and even he's got the wood. Of course, with my skills (lack of), you wouldn't see any light if you put 100w in there