My first 'split' piece.
Cottonwood
26 1/2" D x 21 1/2" high
Originally turned to 30" in diameter (after shrinking). The brother to this piece was my first $5000 sale. Same size & shape, but as I was hollowing this piece, I discovered a scar down near the bottom which was severe enough to render it unsalable. So I finished it and just kept it around as a cut-off box, where I threw small pieces of wood I wanted to save. Some 11 years later I was looking at it and trying to figure out a way to salvage it when it occurred to me to take a pie shaped slice out of it with the scar in the wider part of the slice. After building a laser marking device to mark the cuts, I sliced it open with a handsaw and started sanding the edges. The exterior had developed a patina that I wanted to preserve, but it also had some water stains I wished to cover up, which led to the thin coat of red paint. The piece is not glued together, being held only by the leather lacing. Originally turned in the late 1980s.