I have green turned bowls before and while I wasn’t thrilled about it, I didn’t find it to be a great deal more work, in general, than turning dry blanks from start to finish. With at least one of these Black Cherry bowls the reverse is true. The process has been a nightmare. The bowls don’t cut, they chunk, literally great gaping chunks come out. It seems almost impossible to hold it in the chuck consistently to ever maintain round. In the end, I almost wanted to give up and toss it out, at least with the first one. Maybe it will get better.
The crazy thing is that I LOVE turning Black Cherry. I’ve made dozens of Black Cherry bowls and I have never had a bad experience, but I have always worked with dried blanks before this attempt at green turning. Perhaps Black Cherry just isn’t a good wood for green turning, or more likely, my limited skills just aren’t up for the challenge.
All bowls were turned on my Robust American Beauty Lathe, all cuts made with Easy Wood Tools, sanded with Green Wave paper from Packard Woodworks, and finished with Watco Cherry Danish Oil.
Bowl # 1
This bowl was almost garbage. It didn’t cut as much as chunk, it never seemed to settle into round no matter how I tried, and the frustration was mind blowing. As much as I have always loved turning Black Cherry, this practically changed my mind.
Green Turned Cherry Bowl 1 Interior
Green Turned Cherry Bowl 1 Sidewall
Green Turned Cherry Bowl 1 Reverse