A Cracking Piece

Literally.
I visited a tree surgeon in July and came home with several pieces of timber. One piece was a crotch from a hawthorn. As soon as I saw it I knew what it wanted to be. I rough turned it straight away and packed it in a brown paper bag with the wet shavings.
This is to allow the wood to dry and hopefully stop it cracking. In this case, it didn’t work. It cracked in several places. It’s fine though, the cracks add to the character. I re-mounted it yesterday, and did some finishing cuts.
There are some tool marks in it, but I didn’t want to get too agressive with the tools in case it disintegrated.

The inside turned much more easily than the outside.

I mounted it on a jam chuck with a piece of yoga mat for some cushioning to turn the tenon away and flatten the bottom.

The tool marks are quite pronounced, even after sanding. The colours though are amazing.

It’s finished with polyurethane lacquer for that dipped in glass look.

I also chucked up a piece of sycamore I bought back in March. It was originally a huge slice of the stuff, which was going to be a massive dish. Nature prevailed however, and it cracked really badly. I had to just use smaller chunks.

This has had a wipe with cellulose sanding sealer. Note the flat bottom. I’m really liking this look compared to having a recess or a tenon on show.
I made a finial for the lid from laburnum. I think it needed a little something to contrast with the plain sycamore.

I like the end grain patterns, which turned very easily.

Apart from the sanding sealer, there is no finish on this. There are some scratches from wire wool which will need to be polished out before finishing.