Cottonwood HF

[Keith Burns]

Another in my Flat Top series. The Cottonwood blank was a gift from Nancy Laird (Thanks Nancy). The piece measures 5-1/2" diameter x 10" overall height. The lid and finial are ebony. I bleached the wood to lighten it. Finished with antique oil and beall buffed. Comments/critiques welcome. Thanks.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Love it! Great color contrast, form and finish! The finial is perfection! It is definately your signature! Thanks for posting such a great example of imagination in hollow forms!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Keith......You just keep raising the bar! Simply stunning!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful Keith. Just Beautiful. Great from and finish.

[Dennis Peacock]

Awesome Keith!!!! I really like it a lot. :cool:

[Curt Fuller]

It would be hard to pick a favorite in you Flat Top series, but that would be one of the finalists. I really like the colors of the two contrasting woods. And the photo is really nice. How did you get the 'aura' behind the turning?

[Keith Burns]

It would be hard to pick a favorite in you Flat Top series, but that would be one of the finalists. I really like the colors of the two contrasting woods. And the photo is really nice. How did you get the 'aura' behind the turning?

The "aura" was done by a very complicated lighting set up consisting of a 25 watt handheld light held above and behind the piece.

Thanks Curt !

[Tom Sherman]

I believe you have nailed this one Keith, top shelf stuff indeed..

[jeremy levine]

Museum quality, it really looks fantastic.

[Nancy Laird]

Keith, that's really lovely. I like the form and the contrast between the lid and finial and the cottonwood. I'm glad the blank turned out well--wish I had the same ability!!

Nancy

[Paul Douglass]

WOW! I agree with all the above!

[Neal Addy]

A cottonwood HF? Are you a masochist, man?!

Very nice addition to your series!

[Mike Vickery]

Just beautiful Keith

[Allen Neighbors]

Beautimus, Keith! Good job on soft wood that's hard... make sense? :)
I love the bleach job and the finial!

[Keith Burns]

Thanks very much for the knid words !

[Bill Wyko]

Great job Keith. Very stylish.

[Russ Peters]

Just out of curiosity- I saw a demo of a HF tool the other night and was wondering if you use a system or if it is free-hand. No insult intended just curious

[Keith Burns]

Just out of curiosity- I saw a demo of a HF tool the other night and was wondering if you use a system or if it is free-hand. No insult intended just curious

Russ, I use a Jamieson Style Captive System for most hollowing. On these pieces though, it only works up to within about an inch of the flat top so I use a small midi hand held hollowing tool to do the underside of the top. No insult even remotely taken.

[Joseph Peacock]

Wow!!:D Awsom work Mr.Keith!:cool:;)

[Steve Mawson]

I like the form of the piece. However I will never get me warm and fuzzy over cottonwood.

[Keith Burns]

I like the form of the piece. However I will never get me warm and fuzzy over cottonwood.

Steve, I had 2 pieces of the cottonwood. The first one was turned wet, and man did it STINK ! This one though had dried and actually turned pretty decently and it did not smell !

[Brian Poor]

Gorgeous work!
I love the contrast as well.

:)

[Steve Mawson]

Steve, I had 2 pieces of the cottonwood. The first one was turned wet, and man did it STINK ! This one though had dried and actually turned pretty decently and it did not smell !

I agree, you can tell the wood by the smell. I used it in place of maple one time and did not turn out too bad. I run a warehouse and lots of pallets come in made out of cottonwood. Loggers by a lot of them here is Nebraska just for pallets.