Most of the bowls I make are produced from local wood. This usually comes from fallen or pruned trees - I don't need to cut down trees especially for their wood. People often give me pieces of old fruit trees or 'knobbly bits' that they see when removing trees or branches.
Recently, my father bought two large trailer loads of elm branches from a tree that had died of Dutch Elm disease about three years earlier. Although parts of the branches were rotten from lying on the ground for so long, most of the wood was in perfect condition. It was also wet, but it dried quite quickly because all the sap was gone. I chose lots of pieces for turning, including a burr which is about 30cm (12 inches) across.
Elm is a dark brown wood, with an attractive grain and speckles when quarter sawn. This can give a 3D look to the surface of a bowl that has been smoothly finished and waxed. Elm is most popular for bowls that I sell, and I have got lots of it to use!
I also use beech, which can be brought to a very smooth finish without sanding, cherry, also smooth and with a golden colour, and oak, the 'king of woods', which turns well but must be very well seasoned to avoid cracks. Oak has an open grain, which I usually fill with extra coats of wax, and the grain looks best in bowls where the grain direction is different to that of spindle turning. Take a look at the diagram to show how I cut bowls from logs.
