Winged White Cedar Burl Bowl

My first finished bowl in 2024 is a beautiful white cedar burl bowl. The burl was provided by a friend from his land in Hovland, MN. This bowl measures 23" from wing tip to wing tip, 13" diameter for the center top, 4.5" high, and a wall thickness of 5/16". This bowl has amazing grain figuring and colors. It has great chatoyance dancing all over the bowl. The following images show this bowl. Click on an image to enlarge.

This bowl was turned from the following burl.

The flat part of the burl had a carpenter ant nest. The ants were dispatched (they were alive) which left a hole that I covered with a board. The board was secured with screws to provide a platform for the 6" diameter faceplate. This is shown in the first image above. I always try to maximize the size of the natural edged bowl to be turned. This can be tricky where the burl transitions into the log. The wings of this bowl result from the parts of the burl where it transitions into its mother log. I tried to cut this as close as possible to keep the natural edge and maximize bowl size. The images show the trimmed burl on the lathe, ready for turning. Cedar is a soft wood so the turning went quickly, but frequent sharpening of the HSS steel gouges was required to minimize tear out. This was a fun bowl to turn. The bowl dried in only a few weeks. It sanded nicely which removed all of the minor tear out. I sanded this bowl to 600 grit! It was finished with two coats of 100% tung oil (the Real Milk Paint Company).