I’ve worked with Canarywood a good deal in the past and I have consistently greatly enjoyed the process. Canarywood cuts quite cleanly, sands easily to a fine texture, and takes a fantastic finish with little effort. What’s not to love?
Canarywood Bowls
I’ve used Canarywood for everything from diminutive bowls up to large platters and have always had success. This project was no different. All 10 bowls worked easy peasy lemon squeezy and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
These bowls are destined to be Christmas gifts. Every year, I make a set of bowls that I give to my sister who then re-gifts them to co-workers. It is something of a tradition at this point. And yes I realize that there is a lot of water to go under the bridge before Christmas but I like to have a head start in case I run into difficulties in any way.
These bowls measure 8.5″ x 2″.
Canarywood Bowls Nested
It isn’t easy to notice in the photo, but the three bowls in the center have a darker and plainer color scheme than the rest. I know there is natural variability in the coloration of Canarywood and I wasn’t as happy with these three as I was with the rest but such is the way when working with natural materials. I also noted that the darker colored pieces tended to not cut as cleanly and not sand as easily as the more brightly colored pieces. I’m pretty certain they are different trees and I even wonder if they could be different species of Centrolobium?
All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges for light final passes before sanding. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks. Final finish is Shellawax.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!