My latest turning project, completed last night, is a decent sized bowl made from Cucumbertree wood.
Cucumbertree Wood Sizing
When I worked with this wood in the past it was green and cut as easily as butter. This blank had dried and I have a much harder time getting a clean cut. The difference between its behavior green and dry is night and day. And it had a tendency to gouge out during the turning process which isn’t uncommon with the softer woods such as this.
I cut the shapes primarily with my Easy Wood tools although I did also use a Robert Sorby bowl gouge to make some final cuts before sanding it down to silky smooth at 800 grit.
Cucumbertree Wood Interior
The finish is Shellawax, my go to finishing solution, and I think it did its usual outstanding job on this piece as well.
Overall I am pleased with the piece, recognizing that Cucumbertree wood isn’t always the most exciting wood to work with. But, at the time I obtained it the wood was very local to me and now, having moved across the country from Georgia to California, Cucumbertree wood is practically exotic so it was fun in that sense to work with it again.
Cucumbertree Wood Reverse
I have discussed Cucumbertree wood in the past in detail so I won’t repeat those details here.