Stormy Bowl

An unpredictable finish

I'm going to give away one of my secrets. I like to go to my local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store to look for random stuff, and sometimes I get lucky a get a great bargain on a piece of wood. I recently found this gem:

a clean piece of Red Oak measuring 3" x 6" x 48", and since it's the Re-Store, I got it on the cheap. I'm not a big fan of Red Oak, but I don't pass up deals like that.

I figured it was already the perfect size for some mid-size bowl blanks, so I went to work. And since I don't care for Red Oak that much, I wanted to experiment with a finish that would add some life to it. A couple years back I made a bookshelf with an acrylic poly-stain combo finish. It was pretty finnicky to use, but I did like how it turned out, so I thought I would try it on a turned piece.

At first it seemed like it was going to work really well. When it came to sanding, however, it didn't sand evenly and the stain became blotchy. I messed around with it some to figure out what my salvage options were, and ultimately I decided to lean into the blotchy effect.

As it turned out, the finish ended up bringing out some colors in the wood, and it gave the bowl quite a moody and "stormy" look, which I'm happy with. It also sanded up to be glassy smooth, which is always a great feel. I have to admit, I really like this piece despite it being Red Oak. And it's big enough to hold quite a bit of candy.