"Bird Peck" Hickory bowls - PICS
Mike Rubes, Apex, NC
>Hi all,
Here's a pair of recently finished hickory bowls. I'd not turned hickory before, but have already bought a little more to play with, I really like it. The smell is not so great, but the final product is nice.
I got these two from my local wood supplier. He called it "Bird Peck" hickory. Apparently, as he tells me, the birds peck the wood to get the sap to flow and then eat the bugs that are attracted to the sweet sap. This will often leave marks and holes in the wood. These were taken from the same log. There's not a lot of heartwood in them, but I think the contrast between the heartwood and sapwood really helps to make them unusual pieces. They are both about 8.5 inches across and 3 inches high. The more traditional bowl shaped one is about 3/8 inch thick and the one with the better figure and top that curves back in on itself is about a 1/4 inch thick. I left them thick to help preserve the heft and weight of the hickory. The "regular" bowl one feels really nice in your hand. Also, I was a little nervous that they might not hold together given the number of holes, voids and cracks in the wood!
Thanks for taking a look, all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.
Mike
