My neighbor is a professional tree cutter, and whenever he gets a black walnut tree (very rare around here) he dumps it in my driveway. The first time, I didn't get to it for about 2 weeks, and the whole load had split badly. It was low grade firewood. The second time, I took the day off work, and cut and anchor sealed it within hours. It also split badly, but not quite as bad as the first. I couldn't see the wood going to waste, so I tried to find a way to work the crack into the design. I am not a fan of butterflies. I have seen a whip stitching with copper wire for cracks, but don't like it either. Both put the major emphasis on the crack rather than the wood. I thought I would try leather, but it needed something besides the stitch. I thought this Native American touch would work. Let me know what you think. Critique and ideas are very welcome, as I have a whole garage of cracked walnut available. SWMBO provided lots of advice and help with the feather decor on this one.
Black walnut
about 3/8 thick
11.75 inch diameter
walnut oil under lacquer finish