Mother nature knows best

[bodrighywood]

Sometimes mother nature does her own thing and you just have to go with the flow. This was a ver wet piece of oak burr 6 weeks ago which I turned down and put on one sid to dry before fiishing. Obviously the lady preferred a different shape so did hert own thign with it. Managed to sand and polish the outside now have to do the inside ...by hand. Not going to try and do that at speed on the lathe. It is 9" tall (plus the tenon still) and roughly 5 - 6" diameter depending which bit you measure. Not sure whether to fil some of the bigger cracks with turquoise or leave it at the moment. Something to think about.  C&C welcome as always rememberiing that Mother nature did mpst of the shaping on this one LOL.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

What they call a characterful, piece!.....good call on sanding the rest of it off the lathe, methinks!

Les

[Tony_a]

I really like this Pete. Develops a character of its own with the movement of the wood. Personally I wouldn't fill the cracks, I only fill cracks if needed for structural integrity while turning. Once you start filling cracks on a many cracked piece it can be hard knowing where to stop.

Tony

[edbanger]

I love looking at piece like this.

Take the tenon off and call it done 

All the best

Ed

[John Plater]

Hello Pete,
Nice one !! Mother Nature provided the material and is at liberty to do with it as she wishes, irrespective of any ideas which we may have !! Going with the hand sanding is always preferable if a little more time consuming. That way we retain better control of the outcome, especially around the live/natural edge. The cracks are a part of the life of the piece and many potential customers will buy into that !! You may also find that treating cracks takes an inordinate amount of time which potential customers may be unwilling to buy into !!
ATB John

[Bryan Milham]

Pete,

Although I know your work this does strike me as more something Les would produce than yourself. That said, Mother nature has certainly done you a kindness here, with some volcanic stones I can see this being a great Ikibana vase.