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Monkey Puzzle Bowl

Jason Goodrich

Jason Goodrich

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Portland, OR
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Jason
16” x 7” monkey puzzle end grain. Monkey puzzle bowls are usually make end grain like this to highlight the knots from branches all at the same level. I used up all of those so this one doesn’t have the branches. That leaves a lot of the focus on the spalting. It also developed a large crack that I filled with brass powder.

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  • #2
It was too big for my wife’s photography setup, so I grabbed on of the kids blankets off the living room floor and draped it over a couple chairs on top of the dinning table. It worked better than I expected
 
Beautiful job Jason. I always thought Monkey Puzzle was amazing wood.
 
Like the concentric design of the rings. Photos look great. I think as long as you get a relatively uniform background and eliminate harsh shadows it works pretty well. Puts the focus on your piece, not on the back ground and isn't distracted by glare.
 
Amazing concentricity. I like the spalting? Or blue staining? It breaks the symmetry of the bowl and makes it looks natural.
 
Very very nice. How’d you keep the pith from cracking? And where’s the crack you filled? Interesting rim also. I’d love to turn this wood!
 
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Monkey puzzle has a pretty big, spongy pith, so it doesn’t seem to crack at the pith as much. So this had a crack the length of the block that went from the surface almost to the center.
 
Great bowl! Always wondered what monkey puzzle looked like. There was one down the street that got cut down 30 years ago.
 
Cool looking bowl, how the heck did it not crack with the pith? Did you turn it with regular tools, bowl gouge?
 
That is some neat wood, I assume you got it locally? Didn't know much about Monkey Puzzle, but when I looked it up, it said there was a lot naturalized in the Portland area, Lucky you!
 
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  • #15
I have gotten it locally a few times. There is an interesting history in the Pacific Northwest for monkey puzzle. The World's Fair was held in Seattle in 1962. That was what the Space Needle was built for. At the World’s Fair, monkey puzzle seedlings we handed out to visitors. Most of the full sized monkey puzzle trees in the region are all the same age because they came from this same source.
 
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