oh no, another wood ID...
OK, so I know a photo of a pot isn't worth an image of a leaf, but it's what I've got. This is a WIP of an endgrain pot with some really outstanding, what, curl? What do you call this kind of figure in ribbons perpendicular to the grain? Seems like what most people call "ribbon" is longitudinal? There is no tearout here -- the color in these images is true, and the variations are all in the wood structure. Note the way the true grain direction changes at each band. Is that what "interlocked" is all about? It's 4.75" "tall" and 4.5" in diameter.
And, of course, what's the wood? It's began as an unidentified roughout from a friend, so I have no clue -- probably not from Maryland because I've never seen anything like it around here, but not sure how "exotic" it might or might not be. This wood clearly grew pretty quickly -- the true growth rings are typically between 1/8" and 3/16" apart in the endgrain. This is sanded carelessly to 800 just to show the figure (yes I can see the swirls that I have to sand away in the long direction). There is no finish of any kind applied. The sanding dust hasn't been cleaned away with alcohol in the second (endgrain) shot, because it shows the pores better than after it was wiped off. BUT, even after it has been cleaned, the lighter colored grain lines are still lighter.
This wood is fairly dense and very fine grained (I guess this would be classed as "diffuse porus"), and I believe it would cut cleanly were it not for the intense figure. But this example was difficult to cut because the wider, darker bands are softer and turn away preferentially with any but zero pressure applied, compared to the thin, lighter "rings" which are harder and chippier and tear out easily. A push cut with a very sharp spindle gouge would start and stop at every band! Crazy wood. Never turned anything like it.
Any guesses on the wood type? I have some ideas but I won't bias you. Have you turned this kind of wood/figure yourself? Let's hear it!
