Bunya Pine Something or Another

Vaughn McMillan

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This is a piece of locally harvested bunya pine (a.k.a. bunya-bunya, and a boatload of other names). I believe it's related to Norfolk Island pine, but I missed that day in Biology class. It was cut in a nearby city, and somehow or another ended up at Rockler. It's got five symmetrical knots around the blank.

Turned end grain, wet, to finished dimensions. Soaked in thinned BLO for a while, cured, hit with Antique Oil, cured, then hit with spray can lacquer and buffed. (I know I broke a few finishing rules, but hopefully got things cured enough between layers.) Got the walls down to about 1/8" thick, but never did get it as translucent as it could have been. (For one, I wasn't interested in blowing it up just trying to get it paper thin. I also didn't want to deal with a month of soaking and sanding in Danish Oil.)

It's about 8" high and 5 1/2" wide. The wood's cool but the form doesn't do much for me. I wanted a wide opening at the top to show off the knots inside, but the "spittoon rim" doesn't really float my boat. (The rim isn't as big as it looks in the pics, though.) Oh well, every piece is an improvisation or experiment...sometimes I hit it, it sometimes I don't. It'll still hopefully attract some attention in the booth.

HF047 - 01 800.jpg HF047 - 02 800.jpg

And the obligatory flashlight shots:

HF047 - 03 800.jpg HF047 - 04 800.jpg

Comment away -
 
It is definitely unique and an eye, or two ;) , catcher. I like. Yes, the rim could be criticized as being a bit large. But, somehow, I don't believe a non-critic, like us here, would have a problem with that. The overall effect, which is quite striking is what will sell it.
 
Very nice. I'm betting it will draw a lot of attention, at least until it gets sold. What might have helped the rim would have been to continue the concave curve instead of returning it back toward the center. That would have given you an nice "s" shape rather than just a curvy line. Does that make any sense?
 
Great looking wood Vaughn. I agree with you about the top, but that's offset by "alien" feel you get by looking at eyes.
 
Nice work Vaughn! Doesn't look to thick to me! Has to have some thickness to the walls or else it looks to fragile. About the opening - just tell everyone that it was turned as large as possible to catch more light! They'll just say - oh - and accept it!
 
I think the mouth is a little out of proportion in contrast to the body and the base but it didn't matter too much as my gaze instantly gravitated down towards the beautiful knots.
 
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