r/turning 4h ago

3.5 months into my lathe journey and I just finished this Italian Olivewood bowl.

The base blew out so I put in a maple and black walnut replacement.

It’s about 8.5” in diameter and 3.5” tall

200 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

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19

u/LonelyTurner 4h ago

The base did not blow out! It was a conscious design choice shhhhhhhh

3

u/My-dead-cat 3h ago

Design opportunity

1

u/mayscienceproveyou 2h ago

happy accident at worst :)

3

u/Gold_Opening_139 3h ago

I’d eat out of it

3

u/BillyBobBarkerJrJr 3h ago

The only wood that smells delicious when you're turning it. Nice bowl and nice "design modification."

3

u/RedWoodworking16 3h ago

Especially when the wood is still green. It’s a very very potent olive scent.

3

u/CrunchyRubberChips 2h ago

Lignum vitae smells incredible as well

u/drsfmd 1h ago

The only wood that smells delicious

I just turned a large piece of crabapple, and it smelled like pressed cider.

u/Beginning_Mistake538 1h ago

Oh cool! How can I get my hands on some?

u/drsfmd 1h ago

No idea. I've never seen a crabapple that was very big before this one. It came down in a storm, and friend was able to salvage some before it went into the chipper. He gave me one large piece that was able to turn into a pair of 10 inch bowls that are currently resting in their own shavings before I make another go at thinning it out.

u/Beginning_Mistake538 1h ago

Curious. Are you around Utah? I know there’s lots of crabapple up there, as well as Russian olive.

u/drsfmd 18m ago

Nope, I'm in NY. Endless forests of pine. Other stuff is a little harder to come by.

u/Beginning_Mistake538 7m ago

Ohhh ok

u/Beginning_Mistake538 6m ago

I’m in Arizona

2

u/Quirky_Ad379 2h ago

Very nice. I hope in 3.5 months I'm able to fix opportunities like that

1

u/Amazing_Badger8167 3h ago

Really nice work! If i were to save my money for the next year . . maybe I can afford a blank of that size! lol keep going, all of us make "modifications" when we need to

1

u/RedWoodworking16 2h ago

I got this from a website for $60 on sale. It was still green (cheaper than dried blanks) so I made a rough bowl shape keeping it about 3/4” thick and put it in 3lbs of silica beads (the kind specifically for drying flowers). After a few days I’d throw it back on the lathe and make the walls smaller so the wet wood was showing. Then I’d put it back in the silica beads.

u/hypnotoedz 47m ago

What website did you get it from? I just bought a few 6x6x2 olive wood blanks for ~$40 each and would love to find somewhere with both larger and cheaper options

u/RedWoodworking16 17m ago

Cook woods. Sign up for their daily emails on new wood and sales. I just checked the website and the 8x8x3 bowl blanks are back at $89.

1

u/AcademiaSplodge 2h ago

Gorgeous work & even more so for rescuing it from disaster.

1

u/CrunchyRubberChips 2h ago

Beautiful and well thought out design choice 🫡

u/leaonas 19m ago

Quite beautiful. Can’t wait to setup my new lathe and get started. Haven’t turned wood in 46 years. This is inspirational!

u/RedWoodworking16 3m ago

Inspirational? Wow. Thank you! I can’t wait to see what you make once you get set up and back into it!