Barry Biesanz - Bowls

"Greek and Oriental potters have been stealing my designs for thousands of years." - Bob Stocksdale

I've been turning one-of-a-kind bowls since 1977. If George Nakashima turned bowls, they would look like my thicker bowls. The thin, footed bowls are clearly influenced by the same sources as Bob Stocksdale. Most of my bowls are in cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa, a kind of rosewood). I don't look to impose a shape, but to uncover one that reflects and interacts with the natural fractal harmony between heartwood and sapwood. (See |Biesanz Home Page| for more philosophy.)

My resume.

Here are thumbnail images of three different bowls. Click on them to get a larger size image.

I turn four basic categories of bowls:

"Precolombian" shapes, with narrow mouths and no "foot" on the bowl.
Thick, massive bowls without a "foot" - these are a good format to show off the fine black tracery pattern made by fungus, or labyrinthine holes by beetles. The weight of the bowl together with the silky finish is a sensual experience. The top of the bowl follows the natural grain of the wood.
Thin, footed bowls. Sometimes these are thin enough to be translucent.
Thin bowls with no foot.

Technique:

Examine the cocobolo log for grain, then choose the orientation of the bowl.
Crosscut the log into chunks, then stand it on end and split it in two. Bandsaw those pieces into bowl size chunks.
Plane flat the side that will be the bottom, and let the surface dry enough to glue a waste block.
Mount a waste block onto the bottom, and screw the faceplate for the lathe into that.
Mount the piece on the lathe, and use the gouges to true it up and make it round giving it the rough form. Hollow out the bowl to 3/4 " thick.
Wax the roughed out bowl to slow down drying.
Let the bowl dry for up to a year. If I'm in a hurry, I microwave the bowl on "defrost" 3 or 4 times for 10 -11 minutes.
Return to the lathe to give the bowl final shape. Yes, the very thin bowls sometimes break during turning - I use the calipers a lot.
Bowls are sanded up to 800 grit.
Carve the foot, if any, and possibly carve the top to follow the grain. I have a new technique to keep the cocobolo from turning dark - soaking several hours in pure alcohol.
Finish with 'Qualasole' padding laquer.
Woodburn my signature and the date into the bottom.

Picture of Barry at the lathe

If you are coming to Costa Rica, you will need a map to get to our place.

Links to woodturning sites: -Norcal Woodturners --Peter Lowe- -Triangle Woodturner's Association- -Treasures from Trees- -Tez Fair- -North Texas Woodturners- -The Icelandic Woodturning Page--The Woodturning Center- -Jerry Kotz- -San Diego Woodturners-Gregory Moreton

Webmasters: Would you like to swap woodturning links? Let us know.

e-mail address (remove the 'nospam': woodworks@nospambiesanz.com

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Last update: Feb 10, 2004