Rough-Turned Bowls For Sale Texas woods are too beautiful and too valuable to simply turn into curly shavings on the floor beneath my lathe. Even so, I still wind up with a lot of shavings as the photo above illustrates!. So I generally try to core smaller, interior bowls as I rough-out larger bowls. Like their bigger brothers, these smaller bowls are set aside to dry before final-turning to the finished product. Lately I have been turning a number of quite large bowls and as a result, producing three or four times that number of smaller, interior bowls. These are simply more rough-out bowls than I can complete, or have an immediate market for at this time. So I am offering a number of them for sale here. The following bowls are rough-turned to a reasonably thick wall dimension, generally slightly thinner on the bottom than the sides (to minimize cracking), with a tenon on the bottom suitable for lathe mounting with a spiral chuck (generally cut to fit my Oneway Talon chuck). Non-Mesquite woods are generally roughed-out to a wall thickness of approximately 10 percent of the diameter. As Mesquite is very stable with minimal distortion, my Mesquite bowls are commonly roughed-out to less (generally 5 to 10 percent). These bowls are allowed to air-dry to equilibrium for our local (Texas) conditions, somewhere around 12 to 15% moisture content, before final turning (or being offered for sale here). I do remount these rough bowls and re-turn them to round (and roughly smooth-out any CA glue or epoxy repairs) before putting them up here for sale. So if you buy one, it will be round and ready for you to do the final turning, sanding and finishing. The appearance of a shiny finish in the pictures below is due to water applied to each bowl before photography, to bring out the beauty of the grain hidden below the rough-turned surface. PLEASE NOTE - My rough-bowl numbering system is based on the diameter of the bowl as well as the species of wood. If you are searching for a specific type of wood, such as Mesquite, use your "find" function (control F) to look for "Mesquite". NOTE - I have recently reorganized this page and grouped the bowls by species. If you are searching for bowls of a certain diameter, such as those that would fit the swing of your lathe, use the "find" function to look for that diameter (such as "10-"). Such a search will yield bowls of that diameter as well as those of the I.D. number. If you are interested in one of these, please contact me to check/confirm availability and total costs including shipping. If you are interested in a size or other wood species not listed, again contact me - I have a lot of wood and roughed-out bowls that I have not listed here. To see samples turned from these "exotic" Texas woods on my companion website, www.prairiesend.com. ***** NEWEST ADDITION - 9 December 2009 ***** click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Burly Mesquite rough bowl 5-9 5-1/2" diameter x ~2-3/4" height This is a beautiful, small-size, rough-turned bowl in burly Mesquite. The color is the rich, reddish brown of Mesquite heartwood and with one small dark brown area of included bark (that is quite tight and sound). The grain pattern is gorgeous and includes a zone of burl buds, complex undulations, strong bands of grain-crossing rays and an area chatoyance associated with those rays and the small patch of included bark. It will make a superb small bowl and if you do not buy it soon, my wife may insist that I complete it! The walls are ~5/8" thick after re-turning to round - room for some creativity in the final rim style. With a ~2" tenon, this bowl is ready for you to mount and final-turn (or just sand?) to finish. Sold Mesquite rough bowl 5-9 $50.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Burly Mesquite rough bowl 8-10 7-7/8" diameter x ~2" height This is another beautiful, small-size, rough-turned bowl in burly Mesquite. The color is the rich, reddish brown of Mesquite heartwood. Again, the grain pattern is gorgeous and includes a wide zone of small burl buds on th outside and grain-crossing ray-like bands of what appear to be burl buds on the inside, and numerous ray-flecs. This will make a superb small bowl and is another that my wife says "why do you let someone else finish such a pretty one?". The bottom and lower wall is ~1/2" thick after re-turning to round. The inner wall recurves inward and thickens to ~1-1/4" at the top to form that wide rim. Again, I have left room for your creativity in the final rim style. With a ~2-1/8" tenon, this bowl is ready for you to mount and final-turn (or just sand?) to finish. Sold Mesquite rough bowl 8-10 $60.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite rough bowl 5-10 5-7/8" diameter x ~1-1/4" height This is a nice small, rough-turned Mesquite bowl. The color is the rich, reddish brown of Mesquite heartwood with two small, light brown areas of thin sapwood on opposite sides, just below the rim. There is one large "blind" borer hole on the outside near the bottom and several tiny borer holes on the outside just below the rim. These can be readily filled with the medium of your choice, such as colored epoxy, inlace, coffee grounds, etc. There is one thin and tight radial crack at the rim on one side. I reinforced it with CA glue when re-rounding and it appears to gbe quite sound. The walls are ~1/2" thick after re-turning to round. With a ~2-1/8" tenon, this bowl is ready for you to mount and final-turn (or just sand?) to finish. Sold Mesquite rough bowl 5-10 $15.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Eastern Red Cedar rough bowl 13-1 ~11-3/4" diameter x ~6-1/2" height This is a large and deep, rough-turned bowl in Texas Eastern Red Cedar - another from the local Texas variety known as Purpleheart Cedar with the very nice colors in shades of rose-red to purple heartwood with one large patch of creamy tan sapwood. As noted elsewhere - that strong red-purple color in the photos is real (not photo-enhanced), but unfortunately it is not permanent. It nearly always fades as the finished bowl ages. This bowl has a very nice overall shape, being widest in the upper third and then recurving inward to the rim. It was also cut from a portion of the log with numerous side branches; as a result at least five separate piths form interesting patterns in the sides, both inside and out. There are several thin and tight drying cracks, one of which appears to penetrate the side. That penetrating one is a ring crack associated with the pith of that larger side limb (top and lower of the two side photos). I did reinforce and fill it when rough-turning, but I see that a small portion of that inside crack remains unfilled. You can readily complete that filling with CA glue before finish-turning. The other two cracks are thin and tight drying checks that I reinforced when re-turning the dry bowl to round (one is visible just above the tenon on the photo of the bottom). They appear quite sound. And lastly - there was a small, barky, crotch-type gap on the outside (also visible near the tenon) that I filled with coal-black epoxy when I initially roughed-out this bowl. I think that that black is a nice contrast. The walls are presently ~1-1/4" thick with a rounded rim on top. The tenon is ~2-7/8" and it is ready for chuck-mounting on your lathe. SOLD Eastern Red Cedar rough bowl 13-1 $50.00 ******** END OF NEWEST ADDITIONS ******** TEXAS MESQUITE click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite rough bowl 8-9 8-1/4" diameter x ~2-1/2" height This is a very nice medium size, rough-turned Mesquite bowl. Typical of Texas Honey Mesquite it includes pith-related radial and ring cracks. In this case, they are minor - the outer portion of pith-related cracks that were significant at depth within the log. I reinforced these with CA glue and filled the open portions with black epoxy when I initially roughed the bowl out. For the most part they now now quite solid and attractive, but there are several small gaps that could use a "touch-up" during the final turning and finishing. I see no other flaws. The color is the rich, reddish brown of Mesquite heartwood and coal-black where I did the crack-filling. The grain pattern includes some minor curl and an area of chatoyance in that thick, slightly concave rim. The walls are ~5/8" thick below that wide rim (after re-turning to round). With a ~2-1/8" tenon, this bowl is ready for you to mount and final-turn (or just sand?) to finish. Sold Mesquite rough bowl 8-9 $40.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite end-grain rough bowl 8-1 8-1/2" diameter x 2-1/2" height This is a very nice rough-turned Mesquite bowl turned in end-grain from a small crotch (the point where two branches diverge). The pith-center of each limb is apparent in the bottom of the bowl. Several prominent pith-related radial cracks are present and have been filled (or nearly filled) and reinforced with copper-colored epoxy, and in some areas, with black CA glue. Small gaps in the fill may require additional CA glue when finish-turning. The walls are ~1/2" thick after re-turning to round. Despite the radial cracks, the bowl is sound and there appear to be no significant structural flaws. It has a 2" tenon for chuck-mounting on your lathe. Sold Mesquite end-grain rough bowl 8-1 $30.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite rough bowl 12-4 12-1/2" diameter x ~3-1/2" height This is a very nice rough-turned Texas Honey Mesquite bowl. The color is the rich reddish brown of Mesquite Heartwood. There is a dramatic-looking zig-zag shaped and nearly-interconnected set of ring and radial cracks that extend across the bowl from rim-to-rim. Those cracks are ancient growth features formed in the tree during its lifetime. In several areas, the patterns of the grain on opposite sides of the crack appear to curve and flow into the cracks, suggesting that the tree was growing around those flaws. I reinforced all of the cracks with CA glue when rough-turning and filled the open areas with black epoxy during the re-rounding stage. I believe that they are quite stable. This bowl has an ~2-3/8" tenon for chuck-mounting on your lathe. Sold Mesquite rough bowl 12-4 $40.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite rough bowl 13-4 13" diameter x ~5-1/2" height This is another interesting large rough-turned Mesquite bowl with character and great opportunities for creative finishing. The pith of the log and several dramatic radial cracks are present on both sides. I reinforced these cracks so that I could safely re-turn it to round. But all of those cracks remain open - perfect for infilling with turquoise or some other colorful material. I believe that these cracks are quite stable for finish turning - they certainly held together for my re-rounding. The color is the classic rich, reddish brown of Mesquite Heartwood. The grain flows smoothly across the bowl and around the pith centers, as well as around an adjacent smaller limb pith in one side. The rim is approximately 13/16" thick after re-rounding and the chuck-mount tenon is ~2-3/4" in diameter. SOLD Mesquite rough bowl 13-4 $45.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Mesquite rough bowl 14-3 14" diameter x 4-3/4" height This is another deep rough-turned Mesquite bowl. It includes quite a bit of sapwood and bark on the outside and a small area on the inside. But that bark is quite tight - reinforced with CA glue and generally filled, where gaps were present, with some of my "liquid gold" (copper-colored epoxy). This bowl also includes several other of the character "flaws" that are so common in Mesquite: a small dark brown bark inclusion (the crotch area partially surrounding a small, juvenile side limb) and several radial and wind-shake (ring) cracks at and just below the rim. The cracks were quite tight and did not require filling, but I did reinforce them with thin CA glue during the re-rounding stage. These old cracks are quite secure. There is also some darker wood associated with the pith area below the rim - the result of some spalting of the Mesquite. At a ~7/8" wall thickness, a 14" width and an almost 5" height, this bowl would make a very nice, large salad bowl. It comes with a 3" tenon and is ready for you to final-turn and finish. SOLD Mesquite rough bowl 14-3 $50.00 TEXAS EASTERN RED CEDAR TEXAS SYCAMORE TEXAS OAKS - LIVE AND RED OAKS ASH - TEXAS, GREEN AND WHITE MISCELLANEOUS WOOD, FROM TEXAS AND ELSEWHERE click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Elm rough bowl 10-1 10-3/8" diameter x 2-1/2" height This is a nice medium size, shallow rough-turned bowl in Texas Slippery Elm. The grain pattern is symmetrical and balanced, with colors in shades of beige and strong browns. The walls are ~5/8" thick after re-turning to round. The original blank was cut close to the pith of the log and a pattern of small but prominent pith-related radial cracks are present at the rim on opposite sides of the bowl. These cracks were reinforced with CA glue when rough turning and are quite sound. I see no other structural flaws. It has a 2" tenon for chuck-mounting on your lathe. Elm rough bowl 10-1 $30.00 click to enlarge click to enlarge click to enlarge Elm rough bowl 14-1 14" diameter x 5" height This is a very nice large rough-turned bowl in Texas Slippery Elm. It has a very nice symmetrical grain pattern with colors in shades of beige and strong browns. I also left a large patch of bark on one side which should look quite interesting in a finished piece (you can certainly turn it off if you disagree!). The wall thickness is ~1-1/8" after re-turning to round. This bowl blank was cut close to the pith and several thin radial cracks are present at the rim and upper sides. These are thin and should be readily reinforced and/or filled when finish-turning. There are no other structural flaws apparent. It has a 5" tenon (to fit my Stronghold chuck) for chuck-mounting on your lathe. Elm rough bowl 14-1 $60.00