I turned two more Sycamore bowls today, both 9″ in diameter but one only 2″ deep with the other being 3″ deep. I’ve worked a fair bit with Sycamore in the past and it is an exceptionally easy wood to turn being relatively light and soft but taking a nice cut requiring very minimal sanding effort. Where Sycamore falls down for me is in the finishing process. Being a soft wood it doesn’t take a liquid finish at all evenly so that is a disappointment to me. Aside from finishing though, it is a fine turning wood that I think even very new turners would find success with using.
Sycamore 9 x 2
All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe. 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 on the larger piece while the smaller piece was finished with Odie’s Wood Wax.
Sycamore 9 x 3
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!