Pepper Tree Burl

This afternoon I finished up at work and rushed to the shop to polish off the hollowing of a piece  I began late Sunday.  Started the piece on a lark as I had been working on the dory most of the day.  Still I took the least of the several chunks of Burl wood I brought home a couple weeks ago and roughed it out with the chainsaw.  I don't know for sure that it is a species of pepper tree, Wade the wood carver seemed to think so, I have to go with his opinion.  

It is super wet and survival is not certain, but I think this wood is beautiful.  Hopefully the color will stick with it through drying.  There is a chainsaw nick that I am thinking of filling in with a small piece of walnut once things are dry enough.  This is a pretty deep form and I really wanted an even thickness, so I whipped up a "thickness gauge" for the hollowing tool.  It bounces around a good bit out at the end, but it is reasonably useful. 

Quick hollowing tool depth gauge

On another note, I am on the hunt for a bigger lathe.  I've seen several good options come and go on Craigslist, but I just don't have the funds at the moment and am trying to get on top of a few things before dropping a grand.  I'll just have to keep using the school lathe for large projects until things sort themselves out.