No one knows which are the oldest wooden bowl or drinking cup. I understand wooden objects have been found in tombs in the pyramids, and it is well known that wooden bowls and drinking cups dating back to the fourteenth century are in museums in England. One of the oldest drinking cups was found in a peat bog in Ireland, but the year in which it was made is unknown. The early turned bowls and cups were turned on pole lathes of various sorts and were made from hard, dense woods, such as fruitwood, maple, cherry, sycamore, pear wood, beech, or walnut.

Some bowls were made from lignum vitae and often contained a large quantity of hot liquid, so it was essential that the containers were made from wood that was extremely durable and dense grained. Lignum contains a natural oil and would not need a finish. The only finishes available were natural oils, beeswax, or fats, and any finish such as this would have long since disappeared.

There have been several books written on this subject and they are available in the library. Of special note are Domestic Utensils of Wood by Owen Evan-Thomas and Treen and Other Wooden By-Gones by Edward Pinto. A collection of some 3000 objects in the Pinto Collection has been acquired by the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.

Many of the old-growth redwoods are hundreds of years old. The wood is frequently salvaged from old logging stumps and can be turned without difficulty. Your wood has been stored in a basement without heat, so it should have a moisture content of 6% to 10%, depending on where you live; therefore, the moisture in the wood should be adequate for successful turning.

If your gouges are very sharp and used in a shearing mode, the wood should be able to be cut cleanly and with a smooth surface. Saturating the surface of a piece of wood that has been turned to rough shape with shellac, thin lacquer, or thin CA glue will firm the surface, so that a smooth cut, free from tearout, can be made. However, the secret to successfully turning this type of wood is sharp tools and shearing cuts.

Woodcarving mallets need to be turned from the hardest wood that is available. The mallet head could be turned from osage orange, hop hornbean, or black locust. The head should be straight-grained and free from knots or other defects. The handle could be turned from other hardwoods, such as hard maple, black or honey locust, walnut, or any other good hardwood. Drill the mallet to accept the handle and you should have an heirloom mallet to present your brother.

There is definitely a difference between the way that the V- and U-shaped flutes cut. Most turners prefer the U-shaped flutes, because they clear the shavings more easily and can be used with a square-across grind or with the wings ground back to create a fingernail shape. Ray Key makes aggressive roughing cuts with a gouge with the wings ground back and refining cuts with the square-across grind, particularly on flat work, shallow gentle curve bowls, and flatter-sectioned deep bowls.

The V-shaped gouges must be ground with the wings ground back to cut efficiently and clear the shavings from the V-shape. I prefer the U-shaped flute, because it is more versatile and can be ground to perform several functions.