Bud vase, Cocobolo

My first turning in a couple of months, following a bud vase demo by the Amazing Jake at the Knoxville club in January. (Jake even passed out glass tubes for the inserts!) I made this to take to the club meeting tonight.

Cocobolo, old cocobolo. With a glass tube insert to hold water.

Attachment 426242

(Yeah, I know, the flowers are too big for that little vase. I takes what I can get this time 'o year :))

I picked a very old block of cocobolo for this, just barely big enough to let the tube fit. Cocobolo turns black from the outside in with time, due to, I suspect, oxidation. The black on the bottom was cut off when I removed the tenon but it's evident on the top and a bit on the largest diameter nearest the sides of the block.

This little vessel also had a boo-boo, self inflicted. There was barely enough height for the tube to fit, so I thought. When I parted it off the tenon I discovered the tip of the drill bit went through the bottom! I used a reamer to enlarge the smaller hole to make a 1/2" hole with sides tapering the the "proper" way, cut a plug from what was left of the tenon, and glued it into place. The figure was a fair match. If you hold it just right in the light you can barely see the very thin perfect circle of a glue line.

Attachment 426243

JKJ

WHAT?? John K. Jordan made a boo-boo? No, say it isn't so! Gotta give it to you John, that's a nice vase. Great fix. I always enjoy reading and seeing other folks "boo-boo's", and their fixes. It gives folks like me who makes lots of mistakes some hope. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the explanation for the fix.

Nice little vase John. I don't typically like an edge in the body but that is nicely shaped and proportioned and works very well. That plug however is a masters class in rescuing a project. That is really well done!

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen. I have plenty of wood and some ideas to try variations on that shape. Starting with slightly larger blank will allow more flexibility given the fixed dimensions of the glass insert! It was nice to get back to turning AND get something made in time for club meeting.

JKJ

Beautiful. Cocobolo is some neat wood.

Very nicely done John.