Cherry Burl Vase

[Baxter Smith]

My helpers like to go for “tractor rides” so one afternoon we went for a ride to check out a cherry burl. Although it was on nothing but a rotten stub, it looked promising. We came back, hooked up the yard cart and went on a burl retrieval expedition.

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The burl had grown most of the way around the tree so lined up the centers on the pith in hopes of making a vase of some sort.
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Roughed out a general shape that night.
The next day my helpers returned (they also like shoveling) to assist in cleanup.
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Spent the day hollowing but ended up stuck at a depth of about 11 ½ with a couple more inches to go . Thought about what plan B was going to be that night.
Here is plan B.
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The opening wasn’t quite large enough to go straight in and remain cutting on center but it got the job done.

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[Baxter Smith]

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The next day, I used a combination donut chuck and tailstock support to finish the bottom.
14 x 12 finished with AO
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This one pushed me over the edge on adding a ballast box and remote switch. It only adds a little over 300 pounds but hopefully it will make a bit of difference. The only 6 conductor wire I could come up with was 18 gauge. The wires coming off the variable speed knob were marked 18 gauge though the others seemed larger.
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Thoughts and comments welcome.

[Doug W Swanson]

Pretty nice piece, Baxter. Is that black part rotten or was it just part of the bark on the tree? Either way it looks nice!

[Jon Prouty]

Baxter - these are the best types of threads! I love the start to finish and all that goes in betweeen. Really love the vase - form is really cool. I'm not big on having voids or bark inclusions - but this one makes me doubt that position. Really great.

Jon

[Johnny Taylor]

Baxter, thats a really nice vase and a good size too. with the inclusions it looks really old, kinda like if it was just dug up in an ancient greek archeological dig. Its good to see your helpers giving you a hand

[Brian Libby]

Baxter, I like the piece alot.
Is the remote switch magnetic?
Also nice looking tool rests - Robust?

[Richard Kennedy UK]

Great piece Baxter and a fab set of pics I love these start to finish threads too they are always interesting! great to see your home made deep hollowing rest great idea. As the nearly received owner of a 3520B (its in the country but not with me yet!) its wonderful to see the lathe dealing with a lump of wood that size! I am so looking forward to getting mine!

Thanks for sharing

[David DeCristoforo]

That's a honkin' big cherry burl and a beautiful vase. This is one of those times when I find the inclusion distracting. It's just so overpowering. But (and it's a "big but") the form is great and in the second pic from the side that does not have a huge black hole in it, it's awesome. Also, a very creative "helper" for the boring bar.

[Michael James]

Extraordinary chunk of wood there, well done! The form looks sort of Grecian and the inclusions make it look very ancient. I would call that a keeper! Congragts on getting the helpers to help.
mj

[Jim Burr]

Nice to see the Baxter clones getting some shop time in!! One super chunk of cherry there and a great form to show it off!! I wasn't crazy about the mouth for about 15 seconds. As MJ pointed out it has the Greek similarity and then it all fit and it really adds some additional class!

[Tony De Masi]

Great piece Baxter. Glad you were able to get good use out of it. One never knows with burls.

[Dick Wilson]

Baxter, I have never turned Cherry burl, but have turned a lot of Maple burl. If Cherry is like Maple there are little spikes under the bark. When possible I clean the bark off maple and let the spikes show. It is pretty dramatic. If those are bark inclusions and not voids you might think about removing the bark. I tend to agree with David. Overall it is a marvelous vase, great form, and you sure can't beat the wood figuration at all. Nice job.

[Curt Fuller]

Wow, what a beauty Baxter! And a big one too.

[David E Keller]

I think it looks fantastic, Baxter! I can see the point about the remaining bark, but I tend to like inclusions and such. My only 'complaint' is that I wish you'd have cropped the photos a little tighter, so I could see even more detail in the burl. I love the form, and the coloring is wonderful. Nice solution to the depth issue while hollowing as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Baxter - great series of photos! Love all the photos showing your helpers and all that energy!

Beautiful vase! Love the form, the size and the color! I can go either way on the bark issue - but halfway feel if the bark were removed, the resulting clean edged void would be even more appealing. No matter... very nice work! You should be very happy with this!