Bud Vase - Mid-2010

This is another in a series of projects that I've done in the past. I hit my head at work in mid-June - ended up giving myself a concussion and actually fractured the top of my skull. I didn't do much because of the ramifications; concentration and memory are shot, balance problems, massive headaches (on par with or worse than migraines), blackouts, dizziness, etc. I'm still not right (even though the workman's comp "doctor" was paid off to say I'm fine), but am having days where the symptoms are significantly less. (Still taking the prescription painkillers far more often than I'd like though...) Needless to say, I wasn't been on the lathe, or used any power tools, much after this happened.  I go on as much as I can, but stay away if my head hurts or feels weird.  If you know anything that can be done to reduce concussion symptoms, PLEASE comment and/or e-mail me - I'm really sick of this!  I hit my head June of last year and still have problems in February 2011!  Anyways, this injury gave me some time to apply finish to several projects I'd turned prior to the concussion.   This was turned at the very start of June and had finish applied in September.


Here's a dry vase that I turned from a piece of bone-dry apple wood. I turned the outside using a skew to give it a gentle subtle curve, epoxied it to a waste block, then used my brand new HF drill chuck in the tail stock to hold a 1" spade bit and slowly drilled a hole. I put a zig-zag pattern on the lip of the vase. Ended up having to re-epoxy it to the waste block twice. Finished with a few coats of wipe-on poly.