Commission

This is the first "commission" I have had.  I try and give bowls to people who give me wood but this was can you make me some bowls if I give you some wood... She wanted to pay me and ask what I would charge.  I have no idea what to charge and no idea what they are worth.  It was taken from land her husband's family owns in WVA and that the parents never got to move to and there is just a camp there now that the boys use it I guess.  She wanted to give one to her husband and his mother.  Both of these are from the same log, claimed to be a Chestnut Oak.   Clearly oak and darker than the other log that looks to be white oak.

I roughed out both blanks and turned what the wood gave me, like I almost always do, sometime I have to start having design ideas but  I have not gotten there yet.  This first one is rather V shaped with some curves to it.  It has a couple of nice knots in it that give it some character.  I roughed it out with a tenon on the end and got it fairly even and thin.  It stayed pretty round, though some of my pictures don't show that and there was little or no cracking. 

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The second one is another story.  I had a recessed dovetail and when I roughed it out it was pretty thick and thicker at the base.  it has a large knot in it and it started to crack on the outside near the knot.  I turned out the cracks and made a bowl from what was left..  The knot kept cracking and has some CA holding it together..   It moved a lot but doesn't look that bad in pictures.  Maybe it came back as it dried.    I put a couple of coats of salad bowl finish on them and looked pretty good rubbed down with steel wool a little bit.