1st natural edge piece

[Don Alexander]

so far i have been practicing with the best stuff i have on the theory that it will make me be more careful :D more likely its that i don't really have any interest in turning plain old ordinary wood :eek::D

this piece is Cherry Burl roughly 5" tall and 3 1/2" in diameter it ended up thicker than i wanted because if i had turned it any thinner i would have blown through a large part of one side where there is a natural depression in the burl.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=508&pictureid=4574
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=508&pictureid=4576http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=508&pictureid=4575

if you hold this up to the light there are places along the NE that are translucent amber, my guess is that this would be hardened sap ?? anyway it is really cool when you see it :mad: unfortunately i couldn't get it to show in any pictures :mad: i gained an even greater measure of admiration for those who do these type pieces routinely; this thing wore me out :o

as always i welcome comment/critique

thanks for looking

[James Combs]

Great looking wood. Sides are a little straight for my tastes but that is just me.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice job on a pretty piece of wood. It takes a while to get the hang of keeping an even wall thickness on NE pieces. Sloping the sides a little more would probably make finishing the inside a little easier.

[John Keeton]

...more likely its that i don't really have any interest in turning plain old ordinary wood :eek::DDon, I certainly understand that!! It takes the same amount of time and effort to work with pretty wood as it does plain wood!!

Beautiful piece of burl, and you did a good job holding the NE intact - easy to blow them apart. I agree a more hemi-spherical form would have been easier, and may have shown the burl a little better.

[David E Keller]

It's beautiful wood, and the natural edge is very nice. The shape is unusual, but it's kind of growing on me.

[Bill Bolen]

Pretty piece. Now that would look nice on a desk holding a bunch of turned pens and pencils!

[Don Alexander]

don't know if it shows all that well but the sides actually taper in , looks like i forgot to take a picture of the side that has a major indent that pretty much was the driving force behind the unusual shape


i see what you guys mean about more curve though

thanks for all the comments

how do you guys sand the inside of a NE piece? i ended up spending quite a bit of time sanding it with the lathe off since i was afraid to try sticking my hand inside that thing while it was spinning :eek: the edges are pretty sharp and really hard to see when the lathe is running seemed like a better than average chance of slicing my hand up pretty badly so i just didn't do it :D

[John Keeton]

Don, it really isn't that difficult - practice by sanding the side of your tablesaw blade as its spinning!!!:eek::eek: Just got through doing a NE piece (still getting some additional components done) and I thought I was done sanding the mouth until I noticed the bright red ring inside the mouth!!!:rolleyes: Had to resand that area.;)

[Don Alexander]

John,
i got as close to that practice technique as i care to with the bolt heads on the donut chuck :eek::D:D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice piece Don. Wood is beautiful.