Just finished the finish

[Jim Burr]

'Ol doc Keller gave me the riot act for not finishing this before I left . Claro HF...no particular shape because I attempted my first finial. Started as cherry and ended up Sharpie black. 4 coats of gloss poly on each. I know the finial could have a better curve at the opening of the HF and it doesn't taper well to the top...oh well. Any good suggestions for an alternate wood? BW/Ebony are out of the picture for a while.
Next is a potpourri pot from some kind of maple with red, orange and black dye. Used my beading tools at the opening. I left the bottom natural. Usual pewter lid from CS. Claro is 2.5 x 5. Pot is 3 x 3. Hoping this weekend I'll have the strength to actually turn something. C & C is always used or at least listened to!

[Dennis Ford]

Nice pieces, the HF is my favorite. If you have any Holly growing in your area, it is excellent wood for finials and takes sharpie ink well. It can be difficult to dry without stain or cracks but I have had fair luck cutting finial blanks approx 2" x 2" x ?? long and sealing the ends.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Both are really nice pieces Jim. I really like the HF. Form and finish are both are really nice.

[David E Keller]

Nice work, Jim. I agree with your assessment of the finial, but it's a heck of a first effort. Don't you feel better now that it has got a couple of coats of finish on it? I know I do.

The potpourri pot is really cool, too.

I agree with the holly suggestion. Pear is another pretty good wood for detail work and ebonizing. Anything in the rosewood family has got potential, and hard maple would do in a pinch. Although I've not tried it, I would think that olive might be pretty good as well.

[John Keeton]

Jim, some very nice work! Your self assessment on the finial is good, but it is still a good effort. I will second the choice of holly for finials. And, one might consider a friction coat of lacquer on the finial, followed by black spray lacquer - pretty good ebony look alike.

[Tim Thiebaut]

Very nice HF Jim, I like the potpourri pot as well. I think you did a good job for your first finial to. Over the past month or so I have turned many finials just for practise, it is fun and challenging and if you only have an hour or so to spend in the shop its a nice quick little project to kill a little time with, I must have close to 20 or so of them now and you can really see the progression from the first to the last, I think it was Mark Hubl that posted a forest of finials...he was my inspiration for working on so many of them.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice work on all. The color on the potpourri pot is neat!

[Michael James]

Dang d00d, you're supposed to be down recoupin....but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. At least 1 doc is happy so I guess that's following MD orders...;)
Nice job on those Jim! You are officially 1 finial ahead of me and I'm not going to post #1 until I can make one that looks just as good no matter how many tries it takes!:cool:
Love the potpourri colors, finish and beading. It does however look a little undressed inside with the lid off.
Glad to see you "doing things" you enjoy, but don't get overzealous unless you're still 20 and indestructible.
mj