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Sorry for the quality of the picture; I was in a hurry to turn it and wrap it as a Christmas gift. This is a bud vase, inspired by a vase that Arlin posted a year or two ago. I say inspired, because I am not that good at copying. I really liked the feature at the top. I don’t know if you would call it the neck or throat or what. Of course, a couple of weeks after I turned this, I saw an episode of The American Woodshop where Scott Phillips said that to get evenly spaced burn marks, use a pair of dividers to lay them out. Kind of obvious after someone points it out.
I believe the wood is cocobolo. As I said, I was in a hurry, so I looked at my turning blanks, said “This looks nice,” and grabbed it. I drilled the hole big enough for the test tube and then put it on the lathe. I used a chuck holding a dowel of the right diameter so that the hole would be aligned perpendicular to the vase when it is standing. I kind of messed of the bottom, so I ended up gluing a piece of felt to it to cover the ugliness.
Anyway, I wanted to thank Arlin for his original post and picture. I think I still like his better, but I wasn’t unhappy with the way mine came out.
Hank Gillette