what to do with crotch wood?

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Now that I have a lathe on the way, I figure that I'll be able to do something with some green maple crotch pieces as pictured below. What would you guys do with these pieces?

crotch.JPG

Oh, ah, I do plan to practice first and learn on some less irregular shaped smaller pieces.
 
Mark, I find crotch wood great for almost any turning that can display the great "feathering" that is found inside the branch union. Bowls, platters and Hollow Forms all lend themselves to excellent results with crotch wood. Platters tend to showcase the feathering the best, IMO. Sometimes when you use this type of wood growth for bowls, you tend to remove most of the figured wood when you hollow the interior of the bowl. (Most often, the most spectacular grain is at or near the center of the log, and that gets removed when you turn the bowl interior.) Have fun with those............Maple can have some wonderful figure!
 
Curt was only half right. First, seal the ends with Anchorseal. Then send it all to me. ;)
Dang it Frank, you beat me to it! :p

Mark, Frank is doing you a favor by taking that horrible crotch wood off your hands. The grain in that stuff goes every whichaway, and it can almost make you dizzy looking at it. Wouldn't want a shop accident just because you got dizzy, now would we? :rolleyes:

As Kevin mentioned, you can get some pretty stuff out of that part of the tree. Here's a walnut piece I did a while back that has some of the feathering he mentioned:

HF029 - 03 800.jpg

My only advice would be to try to figure out where the center of the crotch is, and position your turned piece to take advantage of it.
 
Mark, this is what I do with crotch wood.

blacklocustcrotch02.jpg


I would recommend that you turn two or three regular bowls first though! ;)

Seriously, there are a lot of things you can do with crotches, and this is only one of them. But it is a good idea to get your tool techniques well in hand before you start spinning pieces like this.

Bill
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

I wouldn't've thought to turn other than across the cross section of the log until seeing Bill's piece - thanks!

Regarding checking, some of the ends are already checked (the tree fell ~1 1/2 months ago - it was a multi-trip pick up, getting the lower sections for flatwork first) will sealing the ends now do any good? It will dry ok through the bark?
 
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