Thanks Les, Georg, Derek and Dragonfly.
I agree that a piece of wood like this is telling us a bit about its previous life. As someone who works with wood I like to highlight the story the wood has to tell and not try to be too clever. Its about the wood, not me. There are other pieces of wood lend themselves to showing clever wood working skills.
My wife was keeping an eye on this piece as I turned it and wasn't completely sure about it until I applied the finish. She promptly put it under her arm and marched it over to the house. It now has pride of place on one or her displays.
Tony