Latest piece.

[bodrighywood]

Done in between commissions to keep me alive LOL. This is a piece of hollowed very spalted wormy beech approx. 5" max. diameter. It is sitting on a piece of oak that has been simply charred and buffed. It has a gilded collar with an ebony plug and a gilded twig for a finial. It will go onto the shelf and may end up being changed I quite like it t the moment but find that as I look at these pieces  over a period of time I get new ideas or simply find that I am not happy with something. Comments, critique etc welcome.
Pete

[Les Symonds]

Hi Pete...wow! I love the idea that something so defective can end up being so attractive. I guess that many years ago these pieces of wood would have been abandoned as waste/firewood - thank goodness that tastes are changing!
If I might be critical, the only part that I'm not sure about is the ledge on top of the charred plinth, otherwise, I love it.

Les

[Bryan Milham]

Pete,

I'm really thrilled to see someone using wormy timber for such a decorative item. It enables a whole new dimension to be brought out and shown as part of the timbers history. Well Done.

A question, the Twig Finial. I find twigs get brittle very quickly, have you taken this into account or do you have a type of twig that will maintain a degree of flexibility.

[bodrighywood]

Thank you guys.
Mostly I use hazel twigs which seem to be OK. I don't usually fix them in place until I am sure they re ok though. When I first started turning I was given to understand that using wormy wood was a big no no and it should be destroyed but on doing a bit of research I found that if the wood was treated OK it was fine. Very dusty stuff to turn but not a problem and it often has amazing character to it. Basically all I do is rough turn it then give it a good soaking of neat sanding sealer and it comes up a treat.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

Hi Pete....are you implying that the saturation of the sealer into the wood kills off any live worm, or do you use something else for that?

Les

[bodrighywood]

Wood worm is usually found in damp wood. The larvae can't feed off dry wood. If you have a piece of dry wood with holes the chances are high that there is no infestation left and giving a good soak in sealer is enough to kill off any possible remnants. If the wood is small enough to go into a microwave a couple of blasts is enough to kill off anything left.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

Hi Pete.....so how do we account for woodworm attacking furniture? Surely, the common furniture beetle lives just as happily in dry conditions! Several bowl blanks that I have in my workshop have suddenly shown wood-worm holes where there were none earlier this year...I'm now having to keep checking my stock and dealing with individual pieces as soon as I see anything.

Les

[woodndesign]

Nice piece Pete, nice to see you outside of the box, I wondered as Les on the block/ledge in between the two, as to if it set the piece off fully or just odd in shape.. then that's me.

An answer on woodworm ..  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworm ... if in doubt look it up .. they do like the damp.

Cheers  David

[bodrighywood]

It isn't that common to find wood worm in modern centrally heated house Les. There are quite a few different beetles that produce the larvae we call wood worm (including death watch beetle) and the most common way of introducing it into your workshop is to bring in wood that has been lying around outside for a while. I tend to store wood that I get given that has been lying on the ground outside the workshop until I am sure it is safe. I have found worm holes in wood that seemed to be fine until I turned it, no sign on the surface. If you have wood with bark on it it is always worth at least stripping the bark off a soften the eggs and then the larvae are laid and dig in from under the bark. Old wood with bark is invariably found to have some worm I'm afraid.

The ledge was added because the top of the plinth is splintered wood and is one of the things that is under review. I will need to keep it but whether to trim it back or not remains to be seen. I usually end up adjusting or amending these after a while.

Pete

[woodndesign]

Hi Pete, It's wonderful the many forms of wood boring bugs there are, unless we can identify the type, we can't be sure which we are dealing with, small dusty holes, if when found, could be active woodworm or exit flight holes, you never know for sure which or what has happened..

A house we purchased once the Building Surveyor missed tell tale holes round the loft hatch, it was that close under his nose .. I had no come back over what had been shoddy full survey... woodworm .. it happens.

On balance would it be unstable in extending the form out along the ledge as it is or make the ledge longer, to extend the rear part an add a stone as you've done with your pieces.

Cheers  David

[Bryan Milham]

One thing to remember about holes in wood, is they are flight holes.

They appear when the beetle has grown from the larval stage and finished munching its way through your wood. That's the problem, once airborne they are looking for a mate and then somewhere for the eggs to be laid. That's why I'm prepared to share my workshop with a few spiders!

Having said that, once you cut back past the top wood (except for holes generally clean) the galleries revealed can make wonderful patterns.

[Mark Sanger]

Hi Pete

I like this very much. As said elsewhere I find the black button at the top a distraction, coming back to it I think it is because everything else is organic in line and form and the black piece seems to draw my eye.

This is just my thoughts, not saying I am right. Just an idea.