A few months ago my son told me he was going to start making "river" tables. When he told me I was surprised because I didn't really know what is a river table. Secondly, he is in his 40's and had never expressed any interest in wood working that I knew of. More recently, he and his lovely bride have expanded into making charcuterie boards. Once again I wasn't sure what that even was. Well, I have to say, he's doing some very nice things.

 

Stick with me, this is wood turning related. He has given me several cut offs and most of the time they are too small to do much with so I use them for ornaments and such. Recently, he gave me some red elm pieces and they were big enough to turn a couple of little bowls, bigger bowl is about 7" diameter and the smaller is slightly less, maybe 6".

 

 

I have to say, I had no idea how pretty is the grain in red elm. It looks very open grain but it doesn't feel or sand that way. These pieces were kiln dried and about 2" thick before turning. Since the wood was already dried the bowls are single turned to finish. Red elm is a little dusty but cuts nicely and these have very little sanding on them. They have minwax antique oil for a finish.

Edited January 27, 20224 yr by Steve Krumanaker

Very nice! I love red elm and have tried for some years to catch some at a local supplier who claims he gets it in stock every once in a while....but not for me, apparently.

Beautiful! Never turned Red Elm but have made some stuff from Chinese Elm.

That is some wonderful looking wood and you and your son have done it justice.  Very nice!

Love that elm wood. All the items presented are absolutely beautiful. 

Be careful you do not addict him to turning after the boards are done. Then you would not get any cutoffs.

Thats the first time I've seen Red Elm. I don't know if the color I see is true, but I don't see red. I bet there are different dark colors in the tree, including red.  

Wow Steve, your son & bride done some beautiful work, and not to be outdone you've turned a couple beautiful bowls too!

I do hope you've given them a nudge to join TPW, I would love to see more of their work