A rough oak bowl brings an ethical dilemma

Today everybody is concerned about putting carbon into the air and woodturners should be especially worried. Much of a log is waste when you turn bowls. Either you can burn it and put CO2 into the air right away or have the waste rot and possibly put CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the air.

First you start with a log when you want to make a bowl. This log weighed close to 80 pounds. It came from a tree downed in a 2005 storm. The red dolly was used to move the piece due to its weight.

After cutting the ends off the log (they could be cracked), the log was cut into two pieces and shaped with a chain saw into bowl blanks ready to go on the lathe. Each bowl blank weighed 25 pounds which means we have 30 pounds of waste so far to pollute the fragile planet.

Next the blow blank was shaped for the outside of the bowl and a tenon made to use with a chuck to hold the bowl from the bottom.

Finally the wood was removed from the inside, the bowl taken off the lathe, the bowl wrapped in newspaper and set aside to dry for several months and more months after that out in the open. The rough bowls each weighed about 7 pounds. So 25 minus 7 = 18 more pounds of waste to create greenhouse gases for each bowl or 36 pounds more of waste to create greenhouse gasses in total. This totals out at 66 pounds of waste products. The dilemma for TWWT is what to do with this waste without harming the planet. We all have to think globally and act locally while still badmouthing Bush.