Dressed up cottonwood

[Dennis Ford]

I won a block of cottonwood at our last club meeting; this is what I did with it. The base is sycamore, finial is holly while the body is cottonwood. Dyed with Belen "Solar-Lux" dyes and sprayed with lacquer (today, not buffed out yet). Size is 7-1/2" diameter by 12" high (to top of finial). The finial is attaches with three lugs, a twist to the right tightens it up.
Comments and critiques welcome (I am thinking the lower part of finial may be too fat).

[Toby Bouder]

Nice Dennis, looks like a lot of work went into this one with the locking finial. The ball does seem a little large, maybe just squished down a little to mimic the body shape.

[Thomas Canfield]

Toby said it. Nice in any case.

[robert baccus]

Very nice wood and shape---question--is this an Annie Greensprings flask?

[Richard Wolgemuth]

Awesome! I just moved to Nebraska and there are more cottonwood than anything else here. Everyone says it's junk wood, but then they aren't woodworkers either. I was hoping to see someone use it in a turning sometime. Did you turn this green and dry it or was it pretty dry to begin with, and were there any problems/issues with turning this type of wood? I hear it's pretty prone to tear-out. Very nice piece!

[Dennis Ford]

Richard:
This piece was dry before I turned it, it turned fine with minimal issues. I have had trouble with cottonwood in the past and will probably not bother with plain grain cottonwood but will certainly take any curly or figured cottonwood that I can get. It is usually more prone to tear-out than some woods; some pieces have this issue more than others. If it is readily available, you should get some and try it. If you get a bad piece, do not give up on all cottonwood.

[Dennis Ford]

Here is version # 2; I made a new finial with a large cove where the ball was on the first version.

[Harry Robinette]

I like version #2.

[Thomas Canfield]

The cove sets the finial up and really makes it look better for me. Different, but I like it.

[Kelvin Burton]

Dennis, that change to the finial makes a huge difference! I really like it!

[Richard Wolgemuth]

Thanks for the insight Dennis, I will certainly have to try some out.