Hi Charlie

Crap shoot ? So what's the verdict ??

I had a look at the pic's, but any pic' and even more so on ABPW they
don't tell the whole story.
On this particulate piece of wood, there's not much that should be of
any worry to you, the splits on the pith side very probably are turned
away when going in from the pith side, and the small twig knots,( as
what I think they are, going by what the pic' shows) on the outside
might be just on the outer layer of the blank and if not they are small
enough to add interest but not big enough so that they would tear the
wood apart, all this just MO.

No guaranties as one never knows what else there might be in there, but
for what I see, no big surprises.

Crap shoot, No not really.

Most always, one can tell if there are some probable problems in store
or possible, just by looking, but like a lot of things, experience does
help in getting X-ray vision so to speak, the bark hides a lot, but
also reveals in it's way of growing, and it all ads up to what really
(for me at least) makes turning such an interesting hobby, there's
always that infinite of variations in the wood, I just love it.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

charlie b wrote:
Turning chunks of wood into a nice bowl, plate or
other hollow form is typically a crap shoot. What
is beneath the surface of the starting point is
often only discovered as the piece is turned. But
what if you had more info about what's inside?

Did some of that "visualizing what's inside" work
on my current piece - black walnut - thick bark
still on it. Have posted that to
alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

charlie b