I bought a pallet-load, several months ago, of second grade walnut and brown oak, in the knowledge that there'd be some good stock in there, but that I'd have to do a fair bit of selecting and cutting to get the best of it. This lot came from one piece of walnut which had a massive amount of decay in it, yet still enough patches of sound wood to make it worth while. I estimate that this board cost me about £40 and yielded two 13" bowls, a 9" and three smaller bowls, plus 15 pieces of fruit and countless bits left over for keyrings, pens, light-pulls etc.
This first bowl is 13"x4" and has some stunning grain in it...
this one's a 6" pot....the camera angle makes it look square-sided, but the top actually rolls in by about 5degrees
another 6" pot...
a 9" bowl cut off the bark/sapwood side of the board, there was an occupied pupal chamber under the park and I had to fish the little blighter out with a dental-pick...
and the inevitable fruit...
All sanded to 400grit, then microcrystaline waxed with 600 and 1000 grit Nywebs.
C&C always welcome...Les