I was looking through the shop last weekend and found a piece of wood that I must have forgotten about.  I thought it was oak, but it was too light, didn’t have the right color and the grain pattern was off.  It’s not maple, not sycamore, not willow, not cherry, not mahogany, or any other tree that I’ve cut down.  It was also really, really dry, which made me think it had been there for more than two years, which was when I got the oak I have been turning.  It was cut for spindle turning (which I don’t do much of) and while the bottom of the piece was flat, the top had this weird angle that had been cut into it.  For the life of me, I have no idea what kind of wood it is or where it came from, so I’ve decided that wood fairies are real and this was a gift.  Would have been a better gift if it was a chunk of buckeye burl, some African blackwood, or a madrone burl, but apparently, my wood fairies have limited resources.

When I started turning it, this wood turned great on the outside, but when I was trying to hollow out the end grain middle, it acted like the wood was half rotten.  It didn’t really cut as much as it just torn out.  I sharpened the tools, tried different angles on the bowl gouges, tried two different scrapers, and finally settled on a carbide tool that didn’t leave a better surface, but at least it got through the hollowing process quicker.  When I got done, I decided it kinda has a shape like a calla lilly, which makes sense for a vase.  To make it a useable vase, I had to either seal the wood with some kind of epoxy, or figure out how to make an insert of some kind to hold the water.  A coat of sanding sealer followed by multiple coats of liquid lacquer sealed the wood enough for dried flowers, and a quick trip to the dollar store to find a glass that would fit and the project was completed.

Still don’t know what kind of wood this is, but I think it will look nice with some fresh flowers in in.