Bowl from customer supplied wood

[Jim McLain]

A first for me. I have a customer that would like me to turn a functional bowl out of a customer supplied dry redwood burl. Knowing redwood the finishing will take as long as the turning. Not sure to charge for such a process. Have any of you run into this? Usually functional bowl don’t have a lot of time in them but my time is worth something.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Think of a reasonable price and double it.

 

[hockenbery]

Generally a good problem. I would think of how I price a similar item I make and start with that price and add some for the inconvenience of having to work on that piece or take some off depending on how good of a customer the person was or any personal relationship.

 

[John K Jordan]

A first for me. I have a customer that would like me to turn a functional bowl out of a customer supplied dry redwood burl. Knowing redwood the finishing will take as long as the turning. Not sure to charge for such a process. Have any of you run into this? Usually functional bowl don’t have a lot of time in them but my time is worth something.

I have zero experience with redwood burls, have never seen one. But they are anything like burls from some other species such as cherry, it's not unusual to find unpleasant surprises inside. There may be unexpected voids which might make a nice art piece but could prevent completing a "functional" bowl, whatever that means. (Bowl for soup, for apples and oranges, mail?)

If the wood has already been cut so you can see the inside it might be easier to estimate. For example, this one from maple looks perfect inside after being cut through the middle - I have confidence I could complete a useful bowl from it.



I don't charge to make things but if I did, and the wood inside the burl was unknown, I might estimate the time to do the first part - the time needed to prep, mount, and shape the piece enough to evaluate the wood inside . Then show them what you discovered and if it looks reasonable, estimate the time to complete the bowl. Maybe they would be agreeable to that.

Perhaps someone with experience in redwood burls might have useful advice.

JKJ

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Just be sure to tell them ahead of time that there might be nothing useable inside the burl. You don't want them to think you ruined it if it turns out to be useless.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, how big is the burl, and how big will the bowl be? I have turned some redwood burl, and that stuff is so soft, if you just look at it wrong, it has a big dent in it. As for finish, how long that takes depends on what you are using. Some sprays and water based finishes are dry very quickly.

robo hippy

 

[Joe Kaufman]

A gloss finish is difficult to accomplish. Redwood absorbs an unbelievable amount of finish unless an Epoxy or bar type of finish is used. I've applied 8-10 coats of spray lacquer, and the finish is still uneven in gloss appearance. An oil finish leaves an inconsistent muddy appearance; additional coats make it worse. Be sure to try your finish process prior to the bowl application. I have seen pictures of nice-looking redwood products but don't know what finish process was used. My experience has been with Sequoia Redwood, not Coastal Redwood.