A Mess of Mesquite
Last February I spent some time in south Texas at a friend of mine’s ranch. The year before I had told him that if he could cut some mesquite into large enough chunks, I would turn him a bowl from it. (And a bowl for Tommy too, as Tommy would be doing the cutting ...) The provided two really large logs to take home ... perfect.
This week I got around to turning the first bowl from the pieces of mesquite. To get started I had to process the log segments into bowl blanks. I used my 16” band saw to get that done. It is often a surprise when you cut into a log and in this case the surprises were some significant cracks and an odd knot that had been invisible before slicing it open.
The flaws raised some interesting questions, should I fill the cracks with epoxy resin before turning? Should I make a smaller blank, cutting out the cracks? If I started turning it as is, would the pieces fly apart on the lathe? What would you do?
I decided to turn the blank, flaws and all in its full-size, no epoxy. I had never turned mesquite, so this was going to be a learning experience regardless of the situation.
Nine-inch diameter mesquite log bisected in two. From it four large turning blanks will be cut.
I drilled a hole with a 2-3/8"diameter Forstner bit and mounted it on my lathe with a scroll chuck. Mesquite is a heavy wood, and this stock was still green – so that moisture added weight. When I started up the lathe it began to dance a bit. Roughing out the shape was, well, rough. But once again patience proved to be the solution and soon, I was effectively cutting away and forming the bowl.
A 2-3/8” diameter mounting hole was bored into the blank. This allows the blank to be mounted on the lathe with a scroll chuck.
I used carbide cutters for this task. They worked well. With my next mesquite bowl (I have sufficient stock to make at least 8 blanks) I will give HSS a chance and compare the two.
I had hoped that the crack and knot would get cut away, but that didn’t happen. In fact, the crack got even larger. The whole time I was cutting I watched carefully to see if the blank was starting to come apart. It did not, although I left the piece a little chunky, I did not want to push my luck.
The flaws in the mesquite blank got worse the more I cut away. But it is the flaws that make a diamond sparkle. (Is that true?)
When I completed the exterior shape of the bowl, I sanded it up to 200-grit and then remounted the bowl blank so I could excavate the interior. My concerns regarding the possibility of the blank coming apart continued (even more so) and some small bits of the knot did fly away. When I was happy with the shape, I once again sanded up to 220-grit. With that done I applied several wipe-on coats of shellac to the inside of the bowl (leaving the outside bare wood). I burnished the shellac dry with a blue shop towel.
Next, I grabbed my garden torch and used a technique called shou shugi ban to char the outside of the bowl. Once it was burned to my satisfaction, I let it cool down and remounted it on the lathe. I wiped the charred sections with a wet shop towel and let that dry. Then I sanded the burned areas with 220-grit sandpaper. Following the sanding I applied shellac to the outside of the bowl, again burnishing with a shop towel. Two more coats on the outside of the bowl and one additional on the inside and the bowl was completed. I wish the cracks and knot had not been in the blank, but I think the bowl turned out well even so. My first mesquite blank taught me how tough it is and that it has a beautiful figure. I am looking forward to my next attempt.
