First bowl I've done for a while, maybe a couple years or more. Kind of fun for a change, except for the sanding of course.

HARD maple, like turning a rock but it has some great grain in it. Lots of CA in the cracks too.

Put my old stand by, "Phicops in a circle", on the bottom. Maybe not the best bowl for pyrography but hate to leave the bottom with nothing on it. Call me weird I guess.

Love the shape and the beautiful grain. Your pyrography is stunning as always, Steve!

Looks awesome Steve. Glad you decided to "turn" back to the past for a bit and especially share the results with us.

Sweet bowl and outstanding pyrography it is truly amazing.

Beautiful work Steve! Love the grain!! Is that Spalted Maple?

Love it Steve. Nice chunk of wood and you brought the beauty out in it.

6 hours ago, MrRick said:

Beautiful work Steve! Love the grain!! Is that Spalted Maple?

Thanks, I think maybe just a little spalting in this bow. I believe most would call it ambrosia maple but not sure about that either.

Thanks everyone!!

13 minutes ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

Thanks, I think maybe just a little spalting in this bow. I believe most would call it ambrosia maple but not sure about that either.

Hard to tell from your photo. Are there sharp black lines in it? As I understand it, basically there are two kinds of spalting that are usable.

1. Spalting is where the wood develops unique characteristics and colorations as the wood decays and fungus gets inside. I call it beautiful spotchiness.

2. Ambrosia Spalting is created when ambrosia beetles infest the wood and create a pattern of marbled lined fungus stains by excreting basically their "poop" as they bore through it. It is usually identified by beautiful black lines grain and is sought after for its unique aesthetic beauty.

3. There's a third which is white rot but the wood is totally rotten and can't even be handled without falling apart.

Your wood looks like the first one to me. If it was Ambrosia you'd see alot of sharp pencil like lines like this:

But it doesn't matter. It's still Spalted and very gorgeous!!

Great job Steve. Always love the Phicops