Payback Time

[JRD]

When I'm fortunate enough to score some unusual wood, I always like to promise the person I obtained it from something in return made from that wood.

After drying since last summer, today I finally was able to turning a bowl for a woman I work with who gave me pieces of her Magnolia that was being cut.

Thought I post a photo. The yellow area is sapwood, the darker wood is heart. The thin band on the rim is my first try at an inlay (Walnut), I'd just wanted to try something different.

Jim

 

[gsdoby]

Nice work. How is magnolia to turn? I have not tried any yet.

 

[NCPete]

handsome bowl!

 

[sapwood]

Very nice Jim!
Does the magnolia have a yellow/brown tint or is the color the result of finish?

Thanks,
Roger

 

[Canuck]

Great turning and very nice work on the inlay!:eusa_danc

Magnolia is sure pretty stuff.

Thanks for sharing!

Wayne

 

[skeeter]

Nice job and beautiful woods. In all the years I cleaned under a Magnolia, I never thought the wood could be that pretty.

 

[DaveO]

Jim, beautiful bowl:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap How did you end up doing the inlay???

Dave

 

[jeff...]

That's really nice - not too jazy and not to plain - just right :icon_thum. What size sq did you start with? (notice how I slipped that in) :-D

 

[JRD]

Questions answered, Hope I don't miss any.

First, Magnolia is not a super hard wood, but not soft like pine either. I'd call it somewhat to the softer side instead of a very hard wood.

The color is very accurate. The heartwood is almost tan in color, the sapwood in this piece is yellowish (the photo really doesn't show the yellow very well).

What I like most about Magnolia is the grain. It tends to have well defined growth rings that never seem to standout until the wood has been dried. Most Magnolia I've worked with is almost white when first cut.

Dave, the inlay was a real pain! Glad I asked your advice because I
ended up boiling the strips I'd cut, then forming them around the bowl while still wet and hot. There's got to be an easier way! This worked, but I need to learn another technique. It would have been easier if I could have cut the strips thinner, but without a bandsaw I had no way to get a very thin strip.

Jim

 

[Eaglesc]

I don't know much about bowls and have never turned magnolia, but I do know a little about thin strips and working with them.
Did you consider parting a groove in the piece and kerfing your strips, CA them in and then turning them down?