{"id":1036,"date":"2015-08-30T04:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2015-08-30T04:00:11","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T08:00:11","slug":"black-walnut-and-hard-maple-segmented-bowl-blank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/black-walnut-and-hard-maple-segmented-bowl-blank\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Walnut and Hard Maple Segmented Bowl Blank"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Segmented bowl blanks are a new and popular product being sold through some wood turning supply vendors. Segmented pen blanks and even segmented pepper\/salt mill blanks have been commercially available for some time now, but the segmented bowl blanks are a relative newcomer in commercial space. I came across a few of them on the website of a vendor that is relatively new to me, WoodTurningz. The price was reasonable and they had some other items I was interested in, so I decided to give a couple of them a try. For my first try with commercially prepared segmented blanks, I decided to go with a mixture of eastern Black Walnut (Juglans nigra<\/em>) and Hard Maple (Acer saccharum<\/em>). I have written about these woods extensively in the last two previous posts.<\/p>\n I have worked with segmented bowl blanks<\/a> before but that was one that consisted of many small pieces from many different species, scraps essentially, that included voids and lots of epoxy visible throughout the blank. Those blanks are no longer sold commercially, but slightly similar blanks are available through WoodTurningz<\/a>, although these blanks are composed of larger, but still varied, pieces. This blank, by contrast, was finely made and there is no visible glue or epoxy at all. There are six small thin pieces of Hard Maple and seven pieces of Black Walnut, four fairly large and three small and thin glued together to make the pattern. I did find it interesting that one of the larger pieces of Black Walnut was considerably more purplish in coloration than the other pieces, indicating that the pieces most likely did not come from the same tree or source.<\/p>\n Most often these blanks are constructed of two woods with highly contrasting coloration. Hard Maple is a commonly used wood because of its consistently pale color and ready availability at a reasonable price. Obviously, Black Walnut is a good choice for a darker wood but I have also seen Paduak and Purpleheart used as well, both woods with distinct coloration that provides high contrast to a wood like Hard Maple while still being reasonably priced and readily available in the American marketplace.<\/p>\n I have read about, and seen video of, the making of these types of blanks, and provided that you have the correct equipment it wouldn’t likely be difficult to do. Once the wood is obtained, a sharp saw such as a miter or table saw is used to cut the pieces, which have been measured out to provide the specific design desired. Some segmented blanks are arranged like a butcher block, with all pieces evenly sized, while others, such as this, further play on the contrast between the woods by using different sized pieces to create a pleasing pattern.<\/p>\nPast and Present Segmented Blanks<\/h2>\n
How To Make A Segmented Bowl Blank<\/h2>\n