I got this beautiful piece of
spalted Maple from another
wood turner who has had to
give up his country place and
move into an apartment. I
looked at it, sitting in my
shop, for about three months,
before tackling it. The
problem was that if I made a
round platter out of it, I
would lose most of the
beautiful spalting. Also, it was
slightly less that 3/4" thick, so
there was not a lot to play
with. I finally decided to make
a very shallow bowl]/platter.
The wings are cut down only
enough to give me the wood
to make the ring. Inside the
ring, there is a very shallow
bowl (about 3/8") just enough
to keep fruit rolling to the
center. the bowl/platter is
quite big ( 16" x 18") and
when it tried it on our dining
room table, it was a little
overwhelming. I moved it to
the coffee table. But there, it
begged for something to be
put in it. I made the spheres,
one from Box Elder, one from
Black Walnut, and the final
one from Cocobolo. The
smaller ones are about the
size of a tennis ball. The
results were quite startling.
The spheres transformed it
from an overly large platter to
an interactive piece of art.
People who see it can't resist
exploring and picking up the
spheres. The edge of the
board is natural on one side
and undercut with a router on
the other sides so it will be
easy to pick up. It can be
flipped over and used as a
serving board for cheese or
pate. I did not want to darken
the Maple, so I finished it with
several coats of satin water-
based Varathane.
