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Mesquite Bowl Blank M1175 4" x 9" x 11" 8 lbs. This is an elongate and very pretty half-log crotch bowl blank of Texas Honey Mesquite. There is beautiful flame figure in the crotch and a bit of spalting along the outermost heartwood growth rings. The overall color is the deep reddish brown of Mesquite heartwood surrounded by a thin band of yellow sapwood, with a complete and well-attached dark brown bark on the backside. This half-log bowl blank should be suitable for a bowl or winged vessel up to 11" in length and 4" deep. With the bark on the backside, you have the option of turning a conventional bowl or a "barky" natural-edge bowl. However, if you want a full bark edge on the "natural" rim, you will need to secure the bark with CA glue before and possibly during turning. This is a classic half-log blank, split through the center of the log. There is some pith present and some en echelon cracks associated with the pith. These are during-growth cracks rather than drying cracks. You will need to stabilize these with CA glue prior to turning. This is a GREEN to partially air-dried bowl blank, meaning that it still retains a lot of its original moisture from when it was a living tree. It has been well-sealed with Anchor Seal and is in the process of slowly drying. It was heat-treated to kill off any hungry critters that may have been burrowing inside. It was measured at 30% MC in May, 2022. If you need a current moisture content, please message us and we'll check its status for you. I've taken lots of photos of this piece; scroll down below the first 3 to see all of them. About the Tree This Texas-grown Honey Mesquite tree was harvested in El Campo, Texas in July of 2022. It was cut down by the city for reasons unknown to us, and we were happy to help save the tree from a burn pile. It is possible that this tree was damaged by the Valentine's Day Freeze that Texas suffered in February 2021, which is when our state lost a lot of beautiful trees in an unusually deep and long freeze. |