Bill noting the product of a long skinny burl chunk. We could look at a lot of pieces and get all kinds of pieces out of them. Start out with a simple basic log with straight grain. Bill drew a picture of a log and noted the orientation of pieces in the log. He immediately wipes out the pith to reduce cracking.
Deep bowls are difficult to do well.
You can also take a slab and turn a flat piece with a straight log. Alternatively, you could do a hollow form using the pith through the bottom. He showed the difference in shrinkage with turning a form with the grain vertical without using the pith. There are alternatives. The pith can go through the middle, e.g., Oak has nice grain.