This was a great week for free wood. It started out with the pile of Purpleheart you see sitting on my table saw. It was some cut-offs from something a friend was building. I didn’t even know you could get it this thick! This is some seriously hard wood and I had only used small pieces before as accents.

Two days later someone I work with brought me a big pile of Sycamore – which I really love to turn. These were from a huge limb and are still wet so I have to contain my enthusiasm for months while I wait for them to dry.  And then today someone else brought me some spalted walnut which I won’t have to wait on. It is a bit checked on the ends but we’ll see what we get out of it.

I did want to turn a piece of that purpleheart over the weekend so I made a small lidded box for the guy who gave it to me. The pot is much thicker than I would normally make it but to tell the truth I got tired of sharpening my gouge. The box itself is about 4″ tall and the lid is cherry. I took a plug cutter and cut out a 3/8″ plug from the purpleheart and inserted it into the handle which worked out pretty good. The chatoyance on this piece is spectacular. Maybe I should keep it for myself?