Wow, thanks for the kind words Double A!
Those Cocobolo were fun to turn. I wish you all could see what I see when I am turning. I got back in the shop late Thurs. night early Fri. morning and really made it happen! I almost finished turning all the blackwood and had a great time spinning them. Its hard to see the figure in the raw blank form, I try to look at each piece and find the best way its gonna look, but the grain is so black its hard to tell. Some times I can kinda see a burl eye or a swirl here or there, but its really hard to see on most pieces. I put the gouge to it and really take off the squared edge and it starts to take shape when turning. You can start to see the beauty in the piece. Once I have gotten it to close to shape, I take my time easing the chisel over the wood taking off just a little, thats when it starts to pop. Ill mark it then, taper the mouth piece and turn down the shaft, then the fun really happens when I put the sand paper on it, thats when it begins to shine, Ill soften it up and then hit with the steel wool to really add the luster. I tried so hard to take a pic of a piece that has a small cluster of burl eyes right in the center of the piece, the blackwood polishes so fine that it had a big bright light ray across it and wouldnt show its true figure in the pic. I really wish I could capture it and show you all what a Mother Nature creates for us. There is gonna be a lota folks out there that are gonna get some great pieces. They will see the beauty and hold it in their hands and see what I saw. I wish I could show it to everyone.
Wood turning is alot of fun!