Green Turned Holly Bowl

I green turned this Holly bowl about 8 months ago and finished it tonight.

Holly remains on my not-favorite woods to turn list because it doesn’t cut smooth at all on the cross-grain areas and it therefore requires more sanding than I would care for, but some people really enjoy the white wood look so I will turn a few more Holly pieces over time I am sure.

This piece does display some of the blue-grey fungal staining that is almost always present in Holly.  I’ve heard it said that the best time to cut, prepare, and buy Holly is the winter.  The cold temperatures discourage fungal growth allowing time to get the Holly into the kiln and dry it to preserve the pristine whiteness.  I don’t know when this was harvested but since I green turned it I know it wasn’t kiln dried so some staining is to be expected.

Holly Bowl

Holly is also not a stable wood so expect it to move even after it is dried.  Also, if green turning it note that it loses up to 12% volume and the tangential to radial shrinkage ration is 2:1, which means you need to leave a LOT of extra material for final cutting.  Expect your blank to shrink down to 88% of original size (this piece shrunk down to 92% of original size) and expect to be turning a dried oval given the shrinkage ratio.  Finished size on this piece is 6.5″ wide x 2.75″ tall.

A Holly bowl is unusual since most Holly sold is small in size and intended for accent pieces, finials, handles, etc, but on occasion you can find bowl blank sizes and I took advantage of that chance.  I don’t regret working with a wood that isn’t my favorite since there is no other way to know except to try it out and see what you, and don’t, like to work with.

All of the work on the Holly was done on my Robust American Beauty lathe using Easy Wood Tools cutters.  Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave discs from Packard Woodworking.  Nova chucks and jaws were used for holding the piece while working the interior and exterior, with reversal done on Nova Cole Jaws. The Hollywood bowl was beautifully finished using Shellawax.