Finish for burl bowl

[rodney u]

Hi all,
This my first question on the forum and I hope you can assist.
I have this beaut piece of burl that a mate brought back from his farm in Tassie. I have no idea what timber it is but it is as tough as anything. It hard to tell from the photos, but I have carved a bowl in it and I need some advise on what finish you may recommend.
Having read some of the other threads and I was thinking of using Danish Oil.
The piece measures 530 x 400 mm. At this stage I have sanded to 220 grit. I am thinking of leaving the underside its natural coarse finish where I have removed the bark. Also I don't think that I will fill the natural splits in the grain. Should I stain it? Any thoughts please.

[Pat]

Rod, good looking burl bowl, they were one of the reasons I got into the woodwrecking hobby

Oil is the best finish for burl as wax can get caught in the cracks and looks unsightly. I personally use Danish Oil, like you, but you could use what ever oil you wanted. I sand the bowl up to at least 800 for a mirror finish ( sometimes up to 2000). I also use Sanding sealer to raise the nape. I would leave the cracks, as they add character to the piece and it would be a waste to stain a good looking burl.

The bottom after you sign/date and write the species ( as yet undetermined), can be oiled.

[orraloon]

As Pat said oil is the go. On the natural surface you can give it a scrub with turps or metho and a nail brush. Cleans the thing up a bit before oiling.
It should look good. By the way how did you carve it out?
Regards
John.

[rodney u]

Guys, thanks for the advice. I will use the danish oil and keep sanding.
I was limited with my tools to carve it out so I used a range of flat chisels, disc and orbital sander, and a abrasive flap contour sander which really worked well a lot of patience and elbow grease. All very basic tools, nothing flash.
How can you stop the sanding sealer from entering the cracks or is that not a worry?
Anyone hazard a stab at the type of timber?

[Pat]

No problems with the sanding sealer. It is a very thin liquid and dries within 10 minutes.

Eucalyptus burl at a wild guess

I started "carving" burl bowls with stanley bench chisels and four hessian sand bags. I did go on to the Arbortec carving disc and power sanding. No I have a Lathe and turn bowls