Thread: When it all goes egg-shaped!!!

Got inspired by Gray Hawks work on the SA federal courthouse and started work on this project 3 or 4 months ago but everything went pear-shaped when I started gluing the pieces together so I spat the dummy and threw it to the back of the bench in disgust. Having a bit of a clean-up a couple of weeks ago and rediscovered the parts so I sat them together and found to my surprise that everything was almost round again. Decided to give it another shot even though it's unlikely to stay in one piece with grain running in 3 different directions.
Didn't realise there was mould growing in the sapwood of my Yarran stocks until I turned this - I've since sorted my stockpile humidity problem but will have to use something else next time for a sharper contrast - maybe some of the Myall that's stored at Thunkners.
When I originally turned the joining sleeve in pic#4, it was too green and shrank so much overnight that it pulled the glue apart and split in 2. This time around I turned the sleeve from 30 year seasoned ash - very stable!
The pics show the basic turning sequence. I filled the gap by first just putting some shavings in for bulk and flooding it with CA. I then took off any high spots with the Dremel so there was at least 2mm deep gap all the way around. Then proceeded to fill the gap bit by bit with Australian Ebony dust flooded with CA.
I had to go back out to where I felled the tree several months earlier to see if there were any branches still intact to use for the lid and was amazed that months later, left out in the sun and typically harsh conditions we get, the small branches were still solid - no cracking, no mould - nothing - can be lucky sometimes.
Extremely happy with the finish on this piece even though it made it difficult to photograph. Yarran reacts strangely to DO but after more than a dozen coats it started to build on the surface. I then cut that right back with EEE and gave it a buffing with Ubeaut Traditional wax - silky smooth and glossy without the 'coated' look - well worth the effort and will be doing this a lot in future.
The stand is also turned from Yarran but was 'ebonized' with black stain and coated with Wipe-on poly followed by the EEE and Traditional wax treatment.
Don't now how many Minties she holds Ern but it would leave ol' ma emu a bit flustered (specially the pointy bit )! About 190mm high overall and 100mm wide.
Still can't help thinkin' I should have done the finial out of Ebony - wadjareckin????