Cherry Wood Salad Set

A friend wanted me to make a salad set with one big bowl and six little ones. He left the choice of wood up to me and there is just nothing better than cherry in my opinion.

Jon and I went over to the wood place to pick out some blanks and it was a real pleasure trip. I buy wood from Mark Sillay here in Atlanta and I recommend his shop to you (http://www.marksillay.com/). Mark used to be a tree surgeon and he must still have some contacts in the business because he has more wood than anybody I know. He likes local woods and since I do also it is a perfect fit. We were looking for his shop and drove down between two warehouses. When we came to a pile of wood as big as my truck, I knew we had it. When you walk in the warehouse, there is wood stacked everywhere. Mark loves what he does and spent a good bit of time with us helping to pick the right blocks of wood and then even took the time to put our blocks on the bandsaw and round them up for me on the spot. The piece we found for the big salad bowl was green and in the truck sized stack outside. He rounded that one up for me also and when I got it home to mount it on the lathe, it must have weighed 40 pounds. I roughed it out so it would dry and then wrapped it in newspaper to keep it from cracking as it starts to dry out. Here's a picture of it on the lathe before I started to turn. Wouldn't want this one to come loose and start walking around the shop.