Dennis is back in the shop with a new group of bowls well before his scheduled recovery in August. He has already been to Missouri to pick up a new load of fresh logs. This time, the Paige Lumber Co. secured both cherry and persimmon wood. Dennis turns natural edge bowls from the persimmon while it is very wet. Here is a group of bowls drying on the windowsill (on the shady side of the house, of course).
You may remember American persimmon as a substitute for ebony. It was often used for golf club heads because of the hardness of the wood. Dennis has found that the wood holds a very clean cut when wet, and stays a beautiful creamy white. The bark is extremely dark, deep, and appears on the tree in big chunks. These chunks yield the lovely scallops on the bowls.
The curve of the bowls is an ‘ogee’ curve, which is a type of stretched-out S-curve used by cabinet makers for mouldings, and by woodturners for balusters and other architectural elements. This lovely curve emphasizes the bark edge, and creates the oval shape where Dennis has been cutting air instead of wood. It is a fascinating puzzle for everyone who has difficulty picturing the bowl inside the tree.
