This piece was sold to me as Texas Ironwood which seems to be a localized name for Mesquite that grows in parts of Texas. As implied it is a hard wood but it turned beautifully and required hardly any sanding at all because the cuts were so smooth and easy.
The piece appears to have been stabilized with resin prior to my purchase of it, although the voids are still empty and in two cases can be looked through since they pierce the piece. And, there appears to be the remnant of a nail or other metallic substance that is visible on the outside of the piece but which does not go through to the interior even the wall is quite thin.
Mesquite Burl Interior
I think it might be burl wood since the figure is so crazy and there are multiple inclusions and voids even though it wasn’t sold to me a burl piece.
Whatever this material actually is, I wish I had access to more of it. Rarely has a blank turned so beautifully to reveal such wild patterns, voids, and inclusions. It is small at 5.5″ x 2″ but it packs a lot of wonderful into a small space.
Mesquite Burl Side View
All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks. Final finish is Shellawax.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!