This woodturning project, a small bowl turned from apricot, was a nice short fun project.

The wood came from urban forestry, meaning, I helped a neighbor cut down the apricot tree he didn’t want in his yard anymore. I was glad to help in return for the wood.

At the beginning of the bowl turning, I had not decided whether to turn in completely in one session or to turn it in two sessions – months apart. The difference is when the bowl has time to dry. If turned in one session, I turn it to final size, then let it try. As it dries, it shrinks and warps into its own unique shape. If turned in two sessions, the first is only to rough turn it with the walls much thicker than anticipated in the final bowl. Then let it dry and shrink. Hopefully, then the walls were thick enough to accomodate the shrinkage. The bowl is remounted in the lathe to finish it.

This one already shows typical shrinkage and shape changes resulting from drying after turning. This definitely marks the bowl as green turned and gives it special character from the unpredicable shrinkage.

This one is a keeper – a small nice beautiful bowl.