He has specified that he wanted a darker wood. I have tons of aspen
that is stone dry and he does not want the wood stained or dyed. I'd
use something else like willow if it was available but nothing large
enough is available locally.

I checked around locally and Rockler's has one piece of poplar and
Woodcraft has some blackwood but I've seen it and it has lots of cracks
and checks.

Anything mail ordered that size would cost $100 easily no matter what
kind of wood it is. I tried to propose more exotic stuff but he does
not want to pay for it. I was looking at an ebony log for example but
that would be $300 just for the wood.

My wife and I have been trying to figure the price for the finished vase
12x6 made to the drawing and dimensions he provided. The walnut cost me
less than $50 so we are toying with $100-$150 price range.

I'm going to look for turkey cookers on sale after Thanks Giving and
maybe get one as a way to boil wood in the future.

George wrote:
"Leo Van Der Loo" wrote in message
.. .

If I was in your place I would go with Darrell's suggestion, and yes
boiling the wood is a good idea after you have have turned the vase, the
only thing that I might change is the choice of wood if any, (I don't know
the wishes of your client of course) but some woods like Elm or even
Willow are less likely to split or crack, and you could dye the color to
your/his liking.


Aspen or cottonwood, more common willow cousins, would be good candidates.
Bulletproof in drying, and able to take up the color of any dye you use.
Elm would be prettier unstained.

If you go with one of these interlocked types of wood, you can be less fussy
about the pith, perhaps even using it centered up. Failure rate is real low
in my experience, but keep the thing elevated into open air as it dries, so
the bottom outside dries at the rate of the bottom inside, to keep from
cracking.