I had a piece of Buckeye in the shop. It was a log section about 16" in diameter. I halved it with the chainsaw and turned a 12" bowl out of one of the blanks. It was pretty wet, almost too wet.
It was a new experience for me. I had never turned any Buckeye before, much less green Buckeye. Buckeye does not have a lot of grain. In fact almost none. There was some discoloration near the center of the log to keep it interesting. Buckeye was once used for dough bowls, so I left the walls thick.......like a dough bowl.
The Buckeye wanted to tear very badly, especially on the bowl interior. I kept sharpening my bowl gouge, even honing it, but the wood kept tearing. My extra heavy half-round scraper was useless, even freshly sharpened.
I finally was able to minimize the tearing with a shearing cut, starting at the bowl bottom and cutting uphill to the rim. I know it's wrong, but it worked! With some power sanding, I think it will be just fine.
Has anyone turned any Buckeye? Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.