Yew Bowl - Inlaid
with
Brass
Diameter
35cms.
Some
time before I left Anglesey, a friend gave me a couple of Yew logs after
he had cut down an old tree in his garden. They had lain in a corner
of his shed for about five years and were quite dry. However, they were
still very heavy and the more I looked at them the more I became convinced
that, because they were so mis-shapen, I would be unable to turn anything
substantial out of either of them.
I
looked at them frequently, stacked in the corner of my workshop, and
I felt determined I had to make something out of them! In a
rash moment, I put one of them on the lathe and started....
Here
is the result - still a very heavy piece of wood - and not without its
faults. If you look closely at the second picture on this page, you
will see that this was originally four
separate stems of Yew, which, as they grew older
and thicker in girth, eventually fused together - trapping bark in the
centre. I had to fill a large void in the centre of the log (caused
by the removal of the bark inclusion) and fill the space with a mixture
of brass powder and epoxy resin. The exercise was rather like a dentist
drilling out a filling and replacing it with a new one.
Finally,
the bowl was sanded with six grades of abrasive before being given four
coats of Danish Oil and polished with beeswax. The result is an intriguing
bowl which is VERY heavy, and which has a wonderful grain pattern and
a silky smooth finish on the inside - which contrasts with the rougher,
undulating surface of the outside.
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