Monkey Puzzle

[bob svoboda]

Form is a rotund 7" x 7"and pretty consistant3/16 thickness. Pith plugged with walnut. Finished with BLO and many coats of WOP. C & C welcomed.195618

[Quinn McCarthy]

That is a wonderful piece of work Bob. THe grain is wonderful. The finish turned out great too.

Quinn

[Cory Norgart]

Very nice Bob. I like. Plugged with Walut, what is the form itself? Just curious, very beautiful grain, and dido with Quinn, nice finish. The form is outstanding.

[David E Keller]

Very cool! I've never turned monkey puzzle, but it's pretty similar to norfolk pine I hear... Kind of soft and stringy. I notice the knots are not as red as the little bit of norfolk that I've turned. Great work on this one!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Ok, when I read the title and first saw the HF you turned I was wondering why in the world you would call this a monkey puzzle...I was thinking was it because the opening is so small his fist would get stuck stealing cookies from it?! But now I see from the comments that this is actauly a tree, live and learn everyday! It is a very cool looking piece of wood, lots of character and nice form as well.

[John Hart]

Wow...Is that cool or what?!! I like the wood...I like the finish. The form has feminine written all over it....and beautifully executed. I wish to touch it. :)

[Cory Norgart]

So, Monkey Puzzle is a wood? Wow. You are right Tim, you learn something everyday:)

[Jonathan Spool]

Cool thing about Monkey Puzzle is that you can leave the pith without too much worry about splitting. I've seen some great bowls with the pith dead center with this wood. Somehow, I'm never around when someone cuts one down!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Bob! Sure is some pretty wood and your finish really brought the grain to life!

We all like different things in our forms and one thing I would have done a little different would be to have a slight lip at the opening. The lip would serve to continue the curve into the space directly above the form... Just a thought...

[bob svoboda]

Thanks all for looking.
David - it is a bit like NFPine. This piece was a challenge to get a smooth surface-pretty punky
John H - Thanks-it does feel good to hold. It's the first piece my wife has looked at and said "thats art"
Steve - I agree and I would like to try a lip on a future form-still learning (forever)

[John Keeton]

Bob, I missed this one! Very neat piece - kind of an ET thing going on with it for me (Hart's mind wanders into dark areas sometimes!) Beautiful finish, too.

[John Hart]

Bob, I missed this one! Very neat piece - kind of an ET thing going on with it for me (Hart's mind wanders into dark areas sometimes!) Beautiful finish, too.

Those aren't dark areas!!! I'm a lover....that's all. And you're a....a...an alien! :D

[charlie knighton]

very nice, Bob, that's some very interesting wood, i have never turned any of that, do the knots go all the way around or is that a crotch piece???

thanks for sharing

[Michael James]

Very beautiful piece and finish! I passed on some of that in Fla last Feb, but did get a big ol NF pine blank. My lathe is not secured enough to turn it yet so I just amuse my self by olging it.
Thanks for posting,
mj

[bob svoboda]

very nice, Bob, that's some very interesting wood, i have never turned any of that, do the knots go all the way around or is that a crotch piece???

thanks for sharing
They go all around, Charlie. There are five all together.

[Ed Morgano]

Araucaria araucana (popularly called The Monkey-puzzle Tree) is an evergreen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen) tree (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree) growing to 40 metres (130 ft) tall with a 2 metres (7 ft) trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile) and western Argentina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina).

[Jim Burr]

That's a hard puzzle to solve Bob...Gratz on cracking it! No C&C because I could do no better and I think it's great!. Bravo sir!

[Bob Bergstrom]

Nice job. No tear out on those knots. Sometimes they can cause a lot of problems both with cutting and sanding. Beautiful finish.

[Michelle Rich]

the monkey puzzle i've seen has been very quiet and blah..this sure is super looking wood. Grand vase

[Douglas Quetin]

I just read up on Monkey Puzzle. It is the national tree of Chile, the hardest tree in the conifer genus, and can live to be 1,000 years old.

[Allan Ferguson]

Very nice piece and your wife is likely to clam it.