The Magnolia wooden vase is finished! It stands 9" tall and 3" wide. The wood has some wonderful coloring which is a treat!
The center has a glass test tube, 3/4" in diameter, glued to the hole I drilled into the vase so I can put real flowers and water into this vase!
This is the tool that came! It is called a Forstner Bit and extender; you can see that I am at the very edge of my length for this smaller lathe! (the tail stock is leaning almost off of the lathe rails!)
But I did it and drilled to the full 8" so the test tube would sit well into the vase.
When I went to remove the face plate to remove the waste wood at the base to shape the bottom,
STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH....!
I notice a bit of movement in the middle hole--could those be....termites?!
I freaked out and grabbed the nearest can of pesticide--and sprayed into the hole of the face plate and all over the lathe table as I banged the bugs out of the base! When Bill came in , I showed him what I had found and he confirmed it--yup, termites! (Remember, this vase was from a downed branch to the magnolia tree in my front yard. Were they the reason the branch fell instead of the windstorm? They certainly weakened the branch, at any rate.)
The good news is, I killed them all and the vase itself was fine. I learned a good lesson today--it's why woodworkers leave unworked wood outdoors! I think I will ask Bill to spray my little woodpile!
Very nice finish, but YIKES!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, my....I think about that every time The Mister brings in a load of firewood. We had someone coming to get some of our wood and they stopped because of the spider issue. Critters love wood that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Nature is so sneaky!
ReplyDeleteCreepy crawlies make me cringe. I’m glad you discovered them when you did.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that you finally solved a bit of a puzzle! Great idea to put glass inside so it can actually hold water - such lovely markings on the wood.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty vase! Glad you got rid of termites, yuk.
ReplyDeleteGross! And once we get past the termites...the vase is lovely!
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this post? The vase is lovely and I think the fact that you can actually put water in it is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteBut the termites. Yuck! Do you think they wondered what was going on with the vibration? Do termites think? And yuck again.
Blessings,
Betsy