bark treatment for live edge bowl

[Tom Hansen]

I have a pecan bowl I left some bark on the edge and now I'm wondering if I need to CA or treat the bark before drying it? First timer for this project.

 

[hockenbery]

I often remove the bark especially if the bowl is a utilitarians size.

when I leave the bark I use gravity to keep CA off the wood. I run thin CA along the layer between the bark and wood.
The CA does 2 things.
1 keeps the bark on almost all the time.
2 stabilizes the bark so that it dries a little proud of the wood.

Number 2 makes sanding so Much easier. The bark is soft and easily sanded with 320;to be smooth with the wood.
In most species without the CA the bark shrinks more than the wood. Very difficult and tedious to sand wood evene with shrunken bark.

 

[William Rogers]

In addition to Hockenberry I usually put sanding sealer on the wood. This keeps the ca from going too deep in the wood if it gets on the wood.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Odd timing, I turned a 10" natural edge pecan bowl this afternoon. All of my bark held on for the ride. Pecan is one of those barks that's distinctive, bold and worth trying to save. Others not so much. I've had good luck with it staying put during the drying process on pieces I've done this past year. One thing I do is keep some of the scrap pieces from the log cut or end cuts when trimming the log and set them aside. If when the bowl dries you lose a small section of the bark - it pulls away or cracks off, it's not that difficult to do some bark repair with a sharp knife and can salvage some good fitting pieces from the scraps you saved if needed. I use med CA to put them back in place. Be sure and orient it the same way as what is next to it on the edge. With a little trimming and shaving you can repair to the point it's almost impossible to spot. If too much pulls away or breaks loose then you'll have to make a decision - remove the rest, leave the blank space or repair. I usually only try to repair small, less than 1" or so places. It's kind of a fun challenge.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Most species will hold the bark if;

1. The tree is live when cut.
2. The tree is in it's dormant state (Ya I know that there are areas that it is hard to tell when the dormant stage occurs)
3. The wood is turned before any drying can occur.

This is an example of an endgrain bowl in northern red oak with a flawless bark edge without the need of CA
This is an example of a side grain bowl in walnut, notice the discolored sap wood on the upper left of the picture the inner bark next to that was starting to get stringy, but the outer bark held and no CA was needed.
This is an example of thin walled cherry goblets where the bark shrunk less then the wood but remained attached.
The bark on most species gets loose and breaks down as the wood dries whether it dies of natural causes or chain sawitis.
I personally don't care to mess with loose bark, but if you want to go right ahead and torture yourself.

 

[robo hippy]

Every time I left the bark on, some one would come into the booth and pick the piece up by the bark, of course, and the bark broke. Gave up on them.

robo hippy

 

[Donovan Bailey]

Every time I left the bark on, some one would come into the booth and pick the piece up by the bark, of course, and the bark broke. Gave up on them.

robo hippy

Agree and I'll go one step further...I don't particularly enjoy turning a natural edge (chasing bark in the shavings, gluing little bits back, worrying about cutting/sanding, etc.). Also, I personally don't particularly like the looks of a bark edge on a vessel. I know that there are some folks that like the look so I do, in fact, turn them on some bowls, vases, boxes, etc. However, there is no dodging the fact that the bark is going to inevitably chip off if the piece is used/handled with any regularity. My preference is to just not fool with the bark. Just my opinions...

 

[Tom Hansen]

thanks for the tips. I'll give it a shot

 

[Dave Hulett]

I absolutely love natural edge, bark on bowls. the greater the contrast between color of the wood vs bark the better the look. I saturate the bark with thin CA.

 

[Lamar Wright]

I also saturate the bark with thin CA, a coat of sanding sealer and several coats of finish. So far never had a problem with the bark coming off.

 

[John Torchick]

Every time I left the bark on, some one would come into the booth and pick the piece up by the bark, of course, and the bark broke. Gave up on them.

robo hippy

Sign in gift shop- You break, you buy.