This stuff took a bit of beating in the 'whacky timbers' stakes...
Cupressus Macrocarpa, or Monteray Cypress to give it its common name. Grown in a country house near me, this little dish is 14" wide and was turned from wet. I allowed it several weeks out of doors, in the rain, to work off some of the gooey, sticky sap, then turned it as thin as I dared. It was soft and spongy, and it split right through, along a bark-line, so was glued back together with polyurethane gap-filling adhesive, which in turn was scratched back and overfilled with a dark-brown filler, which has blended in really well.
When it dried, it developed a daft shape, one end lifting up, the other dropping....but it'll sell.
It's drinking BLO like crazy, which is increasing the contrast between wood and bark, which is adding to its appeal. I'll scratch away at it with tweezers, picking off a few raised fibres here and there, but otherwise it's just about ready to go.
Les