Curly Cottonwood

In this woodturning vortex, we seem to always try to go a little bigger, hollow a little deeper, get a bigger lathe, you all know the story. I recently came by some wood dump cottonwood that had so much nice curl and figure that I wanted to turn a piece as large as possible to show off the wood. But on an old 14" lathe, 1 hp, and a Jamison style hollowing setup, there are limits. I think I hit my limit on this piece. This ended up with at least an inch thick bottom, maybe a little more, because I just couldn't get any deeper into it without getting some gawdawful catches, at least with my skills and tools. It ended up 12" x 8.5", finished with Watco danish oil and then satin WOP. There are several pics to show all the sides of the wood and because I ended up trying 4 different knobs on the lid. I ended up going with the knob in the first picture.

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I have tons of cwood on my place, but none as1 pretty as this. Max

My gosh, Curt!! The form is beautiful and I recall similar ones you have done. But,WOW, what gorgeous wood!!

Yep, what a beauty! And to think he got this wood from the place where they set aside wood for firewood purposes at the landfill! Great find and super piece Curt!

Outstanding looking wood and your forms are always sooo interesting to look at.

great piece, you make your lathe proud

Gorgeous wood and form. I have turned cottonwood but never seen any figure in it. Hope you have more of that tree left!!

Wow Curt,
What a wonderful piece of wood. Nice vehicle you turned to show it off, too. Well done.
faust

That's fantastic Curt. You know I love cottonwood, and that's the best I've seen. Could you tell if it came from the bottom of the trunk? I never know for sure what to save. Like John said, the form is great, too.

Curt,

I like the form and agree with your knob decision. Gorgeous wood!

Really like what you did with this piece. Gorgeous wood and the form just nails it.

Gorgeous piece of wood very well turned, brings out the figure in the wood, Turned a lot of cotton wood but never came across a piece like that one , good job

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the nice comments.

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Originally Posted by Doug Herzberg

That's fantastic Curt. You know I love cottonwood, and that's the best I've seen. Could you tell if it came from the bottom of the trunk? I never know for sure what to save. Like John said, the form is great, too.

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Doug, this piece of wood was at my local green waste dump. I've collected wood there for years until last summer when they told me I couldn't do it anymore for liability reasons. But then this summer they've started pulling all the big stuff out of the pile that won't go through a chipper and they've put it in a pile with a "free firewood" sign on the pile. Actually saves me the work of pulling it out of the pile now. But to answer your question, this is from a long dead log that appears to have been a major branch off the main trunk. It was about 20" diameter and this wood is very near to where it broke away from the trunk. So basically it's one half of a very large crotch. Most of the really good curly cottonwood I've found is either in those large crotches or in the large trunks near the ground level. The curl is in most all the big cottonwoods but the color comes from the old dead ones that have stood in the weather for several years. That's why there are so many cracks (filled with walnut sawdust) in this wood.

Thanks, Curt. I saved some big crotches a few years ago, but haven't worked with them because of the cracks you're talking about. I may explore using half a crotch if I can't use the whole thing. They've got the color and occasionally I see hints of the curl.

Great turning! The wood looks beautiful. Fantastic job there. I hope someday to make one as nice.