On Apr 10, 10:07 am, "Darrell Feltmate"
wrote:


I like the form shape, and I really liked the bark and inclusions.
Good job! And I think the whole presentation of your project and how
you did it from start to finish is top shelf as well.

I like the "bull's eye" of the branch. I look for pieces like that as
down south here we have very little spalted or highly figured woods
that are readily available. We have almost no "firewood pile" finds,
believe me. So the more interesting pieces tend to be ones with
inclusions, knots, worm holes, fungus discolorations, etc.

A couple of years ago I took a branch of sycamore about 10" in
diameter and cut it 10" long. The wood was ivory in color and the
heartwood was a medium brown.

I mounted the wood in the lathe with the grain perpendicular to the
ways, like you would for a traditional bowl, and turned a vase.

I though it was really neat as it came out as a cross section of the
tree with all the growth rings visible on two sides. Strangely, after
letting it dry in shavings (until I remembered it) for about 10
months, it never deformed.

The club guys were mixed in their reviews. About 75% of the guys had
never seen that, and they didn't like it because that wasn't a proper
form. I had mounted it wrong to begin with. But some of the younger
guys went back to their lathes and turned some larger branch or trunk
wood with that orientation and loved the look.

So much to my delight, we had some pieces come back that were oriented
"incorrectly" for a few months. It was good to see barely tolerant
(and puzzled) looks of some of the guys when those pieces were passed
around. I personally thought they complimented the usual plethora of
bowls, boxes, platters and candlesticks very nicely.

Any criticisms are welcome although I reserve the right to disagree
even when you are right.

AMEN, brother. After all, it's all about the fun, right?

Robert