Strata-Blank Standard Bowl 5" x 5" x 2"

My Father's Day gift

Dad lives 1000 miles from me, so I did not get to see the blank when I sent it for Father's Day. He says it is OK, but he seemed disappointed with the lamination because there were so many gaps between the woods. I only sent the 5x5x2 and knew the result would be small, but I think it "turned out" to actually be too small and poorly glued for the price.

Bowl blank

The blank didn't look at all like I though it would, but the end resuit was outstanding and the wife love it.

strata blanks

was a little disappointed in the quality of the blanks. They seem to have a lot of minor blemishes that require filling. Due to the variety of the wood it was a bit challenging to fill the holes and not have the patches too light for some wood and too dark for other. I did much better by the 3rd bowl, but definitely challenging. once you get the patching process down, they do turn into very good looking bowls

Poor wood

This blank was very tough to work with. The laminated pieces were glued together with many gaps throughout the blank. This made turning much harder to deal with than just the end grain issues of laminated blanks. The instructions covered these gaps and said to fill them with CA/sawdust mixture, which affects the finishing process. For their price, I would of expected the blanks to be glued together in a much much tighter pattern. I will not purchase any more Strata-Blanks.