Lament

[Jim Underwood]

Mimosa Natural Edge Goblet.
Playing around with this green wood one day just to see how Mimosa was, and came up with this. As you can see, Mimosa is an undermentioned underused wood. It's got a real nice grain pattern and turns pretty well.

I found out pretty quick that when you turn something this thin you either
1) sand the outside to finish first or
2) work really quickly when you get to the inside
because this wood moves around a lot once it starts drying at this thickness.

You get three guesses why this is so named:

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow Jim - looks like some really pretty wood! To bad about the lack of wood in that one spot - it happens to all of us sooner or later! I've heard of turners using a spray bottle of water to keep the wood moist while turning - might want to try something like that next time.

[Jim Underwood]

What a great idea. That might keep it from moving so much eh? It got oval shaped on me after I did the inside and I sanded right through on the outside...

[Allen Neighbors]

Jim, I keep an old 409 spray bottle filled with soapy water. The soap acts as a surfactant, and penetrates the outer cells better, so it doesn't evaporate so quickly when spinning. I use it on everything that I turn green to finish thickness. It works for me.
I like the way you kept the bark and sapwood intact ... sorry about the hole...