Bugs are messy

[Toasty]

But they can leave interesting features in bowls.

Turned this yesterday from a tree in our front yard that went down in a storm last year.

I was turning away merrily, enjoying the challenge of going for a half natural edge, when some splattered over my hand. I don't know what type of bug it was, but it lived in the hole you see in the bowl!! There was also the burrow style hole you see in the first pic, but there twernt nothing in that one. I was going to turn it out, but then I thought it might make a nice conversation piece.

[Farnk]

Hi Toasty!

I had a similar experience a while ago when turning some vases from a blackwood branch from my front garden! I was roughing the section down when I felt some moisture, I thought to myself " This wood is still this wet after a couple of years!" when I felt (what was left of) the grub fly out of the wood and splat on my chest.

It left a very interesting feature in the vase, an ovoid hole about 10-12mm across that entered one side and appeared on the other at a diagonal. Definitely a talking point, and the recipient of the vase just loved it.

After turning this piece, I checked the other bits of branchwood and found a number of these critters still alive and happily chewing 18-odd months after the tree was removed and I had painted the ends of the branch sections! They are tough!

Unfortunately I've run out of that material, just lovely to turn!

[TTIT]

Don't go wasting em guy's - they're good tucker! Check out their mama on this thread...
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=31468