Segmented Birthday Vase

[Robert McGowen]

All of the vases that I make keep leaving the house, :D, and the LOML is not always happy about them finding new homes. So...... I made her one for her birthday. I finally have enough confidence to chop up a $20 a foot piece of wood into 1" pieces, so here is 296 pieces of bocote and hard maple. The colors may not be to everyone's liking, but they go with our living room. :)

16" tall by 7" wide. Sanded to 600 grit with 3 coats Waterlox Original.

Thanks for looking!

P.S. Sorry, but I had to take the photos out in the shop where the present currently resides for a little while longer.

[Pete Jordan]

That is so cool, Robert!

[curtis rosche]

awsome i am planing on making a turning out of bacote and wenge how was the bacote for turning?

smell interesting? tearout? hard?

[tim mathis]

that is very nice, i am sure she will love it.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Robert, great job. I bet she loves it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Robert.....Having met your wife......I can guarrantee she'll like it! Well done sir!

[Ben Gastfriend]

It's a beauty! Great work and amazing wood!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful vase Robert! Great color combinations, finish and I really love the size! Your wife will be thrilled with it!

[Keith Burns]

Robert.................Great Job !! Love that Bacote.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful vase Robert. She is going to love it. Well done.

[Barry Stratton]

MAJOR points with this one! One of your best yet, I really like the contrast in woods AND the form AND the finish. Well done.

[Greg Cuetara]

I like the combination of colors. Job well done.

I noticed in one of your pictures that the inside was not finished. Is that correct? Are there any problems with not finishing the inside? I thought with table tops that you had to finish both sides so that there wasn't any differential expansion during seasons.

[Richard Madison]

Robert,
Beautiful piece! Just for reference, how many of those $20 feet did it take?

[Robert McGowen]

Hi,

To answer a couple of questions so far. The bocote was no problem at all turning. I glued each piece immediately after sanding and with the dark colors, I could easily glue 1/2 rings at a time. It did kind of smell funny when turning, but nothing that would keep you from using it. The main problem was sanding. It clogs the paper rather easily.
The inside IS finished. The reflection of the flash is just different on the inside than on the outside. I have also heard that you should finish both the inside and outside.
There are about 3.5 board feet of bocote in the vase if you include a couple of unused rings. (okay, a couple of rings weren't exactly round. ;))

[Richard Madison]

Thanks, Robert.

[jack richington]

The colors don't match my living room, but my wife says we can get new furniture to accomodate that piece :D:D

[Tom Sherman]

Very nice Robert, I like everything about it. Great job.

[Paul Engle]

Nice work Robert, the combo is spot on, and the feature ring links look very good. The form works for me. KUTGW.I got a piece of cherry 2.9 bf at 8$ a foot and I am hesitating using it( spalt and curly figure in it) but I may make a vase with it using the face/ grain for the edge so one could see the curly fig better. Very nice vase indeed.

[Jeff Cremers]

It looks beautiful IMHO
Jeff
would look good in my living room as well

[Steve Mawson]

That is a beauty. Would also look in my house.

[Dennis Peacock]

Beautiful Robert!!!!! I love it. Form is nice and the segementing is spot on. :cool:

[Dick Strauss]

Very well done Robert! Your wife is going to love it! I'm glad you posted the size otherwise I couldn't imagine it is that big (16" x 7") from the pics. Holy cow that is a big'n