{"id":2003,"date":"2016-06-28T15:35:28","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T19:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2016-06-28T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T19:36:09","slug":"spectraply-bowl-blanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/spectraply-bowl-blanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Spectraply Bowl Blanks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have used, and written about<\/a>, Spectraply blanks in the past.  At that time, I was writing based on the experience of using them, on multiple occasions and from several different manufacturers, as pen blanks.  I referenced that they also existed as bowl and mill blanks but that I had not yet had the chance to use these larger pieces.  Now, I have used them in bowl blank format, on two separate occasions, and I am saddened to report that I was disappointed, actually outright irritated, on both occasions.  Not only will I never attempt to use Spectraply, or other products similar to it, as a bowl blank, I further find it difficult to remain saddened that the supply has been, at a minimum interrupted, if not eliminated completely.<\/p>\n

\"Spectraply

Spectraply Bowl Interior<\/p><\/div>\n

I admit that I have enjoyed using Spectraply as a pen blank material because the colors are certainly unique and the spiral pattern is quite pleasing on the scale of a pen blank, but this is decidedly a case of bigger not making better.  I was excited to try the experiment but certainly not pleased with the results.  However, in the beginning, I was encouraged by the sheer visual appeal of the turning process.  The yellow birch wood that is dyed and layered to make Spectraply is quite soft and it turns exceptionally easily, although as is always true with especially soft woods on the lathe it does have a tendency to burr when cut, ensuring that a careful sanding will be required to make the final presentation acceptable.  The appeal comes when cutting through the different quite thin layers as the blank spins because different colors will seemingly “pop” out of nowhere in quick order, making the blank appear similar to a carnival spinning top.  I made a video of it but I can’t figure out how to shrink it down to a size that my webpage editor won’t choke on, so I can’t, unfortunately, show it here just yet.<\/p>\n

The problems with the Spectraply as a bowl blank will come later in the process.<\/p>\n

\"Spectraply

Spectraply Bowl Edge On<\/p><\/div>\n

The first problem is what to do with the flat portions of the bowl?  Unless one is making something akin to an ice cream cone, there will simply have to be flatter areas to any bowl shape that I can conceive of.  The problem with Spectraply is that these flat areas will be monochrome and given the color choices I had available in this blank, either a vibrant blue or garish red were the only choices aside from plain boring birch white.  In one case more than the other, being more familiar with this problem, I made a distinct effort to dimple the bottom of the interior but only to mixed success I fear.  The color swirl that made Spectraply such as success for me as a pen blank did not readily transfer over to the bowl sized versions.<\/p>\n

But easily the greatest problem was with the lack of fastness to the dyes used to color the yellow birch panels that comprise Spectraply in the first place.  Almost immediately upon beginning the process of cutting the blank the user is confronted with a haze of purple wood dust.  Any grade school age child even vaguely familiar with the behavior of Crayons will know what happens when you mix a bright red and a bright blue: you get a bright purple.  This dust will soon have your entire work area covered in a purple film, and while you could simply brush and vacuum that away over time, what you can’t do so easily is prevent this purple dust from contaminating most all of the quite otherwise white areas of undyed birch in your blank and then finished piece.  The red, white, and blue effect quickly looses ground to purple purple purple everywhere, both in the shop and on the blank itself.<\/p>\n

\"Spectraply

Spectraply Bowl Interior 1<\/p><\/div>\n

If you do manage to avoid contaminating the white areas with the omnipresent purple during turning, you will without question, as far as I can see, have the problem the moment you use any sanding material, paper or screen, because the layers are simply too minute to avoid touching across multiple colors when sanding.  And this process will smear purple colored sanding dust all over every speck of white space, creating at best, a “dirty” appearance.<\/p>\n

This lack of color fastness will really come home to roost once you attempt a rubbed finish.  I was afraid to use a liquid finish of any kind, shellac-based or otherwise, because of the color transfer concern so instead I, foolishly it turned out, opted for a plain wax finish.  The wax itself transfers the extremely unfast dye just as easily as any other medium would seem to do, further creating a muddy purple finish color tone to the formerly white areas, compounding the “dirty” appearance.  When I turned the second blank I had intended to use a spray lacquer finish to try to help avoid this issue, but somehow I failed to remember my intentions and I used Shellawax and experienced the same ugly color transfer and mixing as I had before.<\/p>\n

\"Spectraply

Spectraply Bowl Reverse<\/p><\/div>\n

I can’t speak, therefore, to whether or not a sprayed finish would resolve at least part of the color transfer problem, or not, but I can say that the color transfer would already have been an issue just with the dust generation during sanding and turning, and that given the softness of the birch used to make the Spectraply I can’t conceive of a way to prevent that problem completely unless different dyes were used that were much faster than those used to create the red and the blue.<\/p>\n

It has occurred to me that the problem might be the two particular colors that happened to be the only examples of bowl blank sized Spectraply available at the time that I ordered it.  Perhaps some of the yellows or greens that are used in other combinations of Spectraply would have less color transfer problem than the red and the blue that I used, but again, I can’s say for certain.<\/p>\n

\"Spectraply

Spectraply Bowl<\/p><\/div>\n

However, regardless of the colors used, the problems with the plainness and the obvious fake nature of the extreme colors would still be an issue in any flat areas of the blank when used in a bowl form.  When used to create a pen, pencil, or even a mill shape these concerns are eliminated by the nature of the form, but in a bowl shape there is simply not a realistic way that I can think of to avoid it and therefore I do not believe that Spectraply, regardless of the color transfer issues which might have a solution that I didn’t think of or employ, makes a reasonable bowl blank material.  I’m sad to say it, but I do think that this material, if it should become available on the market again, should not venture outside use as a spindle material for any reason.<\/p>\n

However, that said, I would always encourage any wood turner to experiment for themselves with any material, tool, finish, or process\/procedure as opposed to simply taking someone else’s word for it.  What doesn’t work for one turner might just happen to find brilliant expression and success in the hands of another.  In fact I think there is a good life lesson in there that extends far beyond just wood turning but I will leave that philosophical exploration to another place and another time.  Until then, enjoy your projects and adventures, whatever they may be, and for everyone out there who is a fan of the wood lathe, do a good turn today.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spectraply is an engineered wood turning material made by dying thin layers of birch vivid colors and then compressing these dyed layers together, sometimes with plain uncolored pieces as well, to form interesting and visually appealing color combinations which, once turned, can be eye-catching and attractive, especially when used as pen blanks. The same material, however, is not anywhere near as appealing when used as a bowl blank due to color contamination and the lack of interest in the flatter areas of the bowl shape, problems that either do not exist or which are not as prevalent and troublesome with pen blanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":2006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,138,139,130],"tags":[154,168,171,181,183,200,201,204,210,239,240],"yoast_head":"\nSpectraply Bowl Blanks - Wood Turning Pens ..<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While it is an incredibly colorful and therefore unusual material, I don't mourn that Spectraply is no longer available in bowl blank sizes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/spectraply-bowl-blanks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spectraply Bowl Blanks - 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