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Last summer I managed to collect a really large ancient Ponderosa Pine stump and root ball from the Uncompahgre Plateau here in Western Colorado. It was probably a 350 year old tree that had been logged off over a 100 years ago.  The stump and roots were preserved by all the pine resin left and over the years the interior wood has turned a lovely rich gold and brown color and is very heavy with resin.  Here are 3 recent vessels I’ve created from a couple of the main root branches.

The piece isn’t finished yet but at least the hollowing and inlay are done.  This was the most difficult piece I’ve had to hollow due to the combination of size and because the sycamore stump this came from had laid out in this desert climate for about 7 years and was very dry and hard which made the turning process a real chore …. so I’m very glad that part is done.   It has been sanded to 400 grit and I’ve applied a heavy coat of walnut oil inside and out which needs to soak in and polymerize for...

I’ve gotten this large Sycamore vessel mounted in the steady rest since I’ve finished the outside shape of the vessel and the hollowing work has started … still a long way to go.

After 3 days of turning I’ve got the shape of the piece most of the way there.  I’ll start hollowing tomorrow after I get it mounted in the steady rest.  The wood is completely dry and that made the work thus far pretty tedious, but at least I won’t have to wait thru a drying period to get it finished and I shouldn’t get much if any warping from here till the end.

I haven’t posted in a while and it’s time to get back at it.  We had a great fall with our two shows in Telluride and Ridgeway and sold a lot!  Thanks to all our buyers!  Anyway, I need to get busy and get my inventory built back of for the online shop and next years shows.  I’m not sure what the finished product will be with this one, but it took some doing to get this 200 lbs piece of sycamore into the lathe.  It is a little awe inspiring when that much mass gets to spinning and is...