Just before leaving work yesterday, a co-worker gave me a branch of a maple tree that came down in her yard. It was about 3-4" in diameter, but curved so only about 6" of it could be turned at a time. I cut off the end that was visibly split and then cut off a chunk to put on the lathe. The wood fell apart into two halves. The splitting extended up at least 18" into the 3.5-4' branch. There were some worm holes and a couple of voids that I was soon to discover, but they didn't affect the structural aspect of the wood.
Anyways, I made 4 eggs and was pleased with how easy it was to work with - much easier than the apple/splated wood I've turned before. Seemed like the wood just peeled off and left a better finish than I've been able to achieve direct from the tool thus far.
You can see that I created some burn lines with the cloth side of the sandpaper, leaving no indentation (from wire or the like). I went kinda nuts with the technique on one of the eggs, creating many light lines. I also really like the smooth finish that the cloth rubbing gave the wood.
I then decided that I wanted to turn something else, but didn't know what. I just rounded the next chunk of wood and started turning. Got an idea and put the block of wood in the drill press vise and drilled a 3/4" hole 2" deep with a spade bit. The spade bit tore out the inside a bit, which I sanded the best I could with my dremel and sanding drums. After finishing the main part, I made a cover out of the last 3" of the branch, turning it carefully to fit well; snug without sticking. The grain of the cover even matches the grain of the body because it's from about 2" away in the branch.
I had a hard time finishing the point on top of the cover, probably because I had to turn it between centers, but eventually got it OK. The very tip is slightly discolored from rubbing on another piece of wood on the spur drive, but not terrible.
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