Bowl, Mixing

Description

Large, face-turned bowl of ring-porous hardwood, most likely ash. Given its size, the bowl was probably turned between centers but with face turning grain orientation. Thus a central support column or core could not be turned away while on the lathe; thus the non-circular tool marks on the bottom of the bowl both inside and out. The bowl is a dark brown color, but it is unclear whether this color is from use or the result of some sort of finish.

Notes

Shaker sisters probably used this bowl in the kitchen for general mixing purposes because it has few marks in the bottom from a chopping knife and it has not turned white from being used for making bread or with use in a dairy. The bowl was turned on a lathe from a single block of wood at least 30 inches square and 10 inches thick. An ash block of this size weighs nearly 200 pounds. The bowl was turned from a plank cut along the grain of the tree rather than from a round section of the trunk. While this increases its strength, because wood shrinks more across the grain than along the grain, the bowl is fully one-and-one-half inches wider in one direction than the other. The turning of the bowl was done on a lathe. First, the block was probably shaped by hand with a hatchet, drawknife, or hand adz to reduce its size. Next the block was fastened firmly to a round plate mounted on the headstock of the lathe by what would become the bottom of the bowl. The turner would then shape the inside and outside of the bowl by adding decorative touches such as the shaped lip around the top edge, the round foot on which the bowl rests, and decorative scribe marks that add texture to the exterior of the bowl. Once removed from the lathe, a gouge was used to shape the bottom of the inside of the bowl and to remove some of the wood from the outside in order for the bowl to rest firmly on the round foot.