Second chance

 My wood turning buddy was given a heavy dry piece of wood he was probably given it because it had big splits in it from the drying process, the wood is pohutukawa a New Zealand native that is well known for splitting as it dries.

My buddy had screwed it onto a face plate and began to turn it on his wood lathe, it was evidentially out of balance and sheered all the screws it leapt off the lathe hitting him on the wrist  leaving him to nurse a wound, he wanted nothing else to do with the wood so dumped it on my man cave floor warning me of the screws still in the wood.

After a few weeks I picked it up and routered out a recess so I could hold it with a lathe chuck, once on the lathe I cut around the screws and removed them, as I turned a bowl the extent of the splits became evident I pondered what to do and settled on turning it thin and piercing away the split areas it then became apparent that it could become 2 halves and putting another bowl inside became an option, then I wanted to see through as much as possible and see the contrasting light wood of the inner bowl (rimu), there was a slight plan but I was never quite sure just how possible it was until I had done it.

 I was at least the third person to consider using this on a lathe I think I have done it justice, it has taken a long time but then good things are worth waiting for.

It is 190mm diameter and 95mm high, the black part is pyrogrophy using a ball tipped nib, as the heat was applied the resin would bubble out of the wood and scorch, the finish is satin from a rattle can, inside the bowl I applied a gold guilders paste before I lacquered it.