Been working on this bowl for quite a while now. It was difficult because pieces had to be glued together, cut and sanded, then glued to other pieces that had already been glued and cut and sanded, and then that arrangement had to be cut and sanded and glued to even more bits. So yeah.... phew! (Also, I don't have a power sander. Hand sanding takes forever.)
The bottom of the bowl is a dark piece of Birdseye Maple and the darker strips on the top are random butcher block bits from the scrap box along with some lighter colored Birdseye Maple strips. The ovals are butcher block wood and thin bits leftover from previous projects. The oval shape comes from the turning process, they were rectangular strips when I glued 'em on. One of these projects I'll have to take stage by stage pics.
I lazily sanded to 600 grit (many hard to see scratches remain), finished with a couple coats of Formby's Tung Oil Finish, and polished with EEE Ultra Shine. It's an easy finish, but the Formby's needs 12 hours between coats and one just isn't enough. 2-3 coats adds a little more depth so some more patience is required. I also gave the last coat of Fromby's a 3 day cure before polishing. I think that's what it says to do on the bottle?
It's a nice little bowl. A bit deeper than previous projects, I'm learning that there's a limit to how far I want to go. The deeper you dig, the sketchier the operation. That lesson has put a hold on some of my taller ideas, at least until I find a comfortable solution.
Also, turning maple is a pain in my ass, but hot damn it looks good.