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Fine Woodturning by Tony Manella |
I do land development drawings for a living so
I get to construction sites on occasion. This Mountain Laurel is one of my best finds. I was
able to go through two acres of these bushes and cut what I wanted before they were bulldozed under.
I took quite a few but in retrospect I should have taken a lot more as this is a wonderful wood
to turn. As you can see from the top photo the wood has many growth rings and I estimated the
largest, just under 6" in diameter, to be over 50 years old. The wood is also very hard and stable
with a very interesting wavy grain. What appears to be cracks are actually some sort of large cells
that radiates out from the center in a star pattern. This piece is about 5" high and 3" wide. The rim
is ebony and spiral texture carved into it using a pottery or sewing tool called a pouncing wheel. The
finish on the piece is Shellawax Cream to a semi gloss finish.