Spalted Hickory Pedestal

I like the look of spalted wood and in this case it is Hickory from a tree in our front yard that blew down in a storm about 4 or 5 years ago.

I cut the trunk and limbs into manageable pieces and stacked them on the south side of the workshop and every now and then I'll grab a piece of it to experiment with.

This was a small piece of the Hickory, about 8" long x about 5" in diameter.
After the bark was removed and it was turned to a consistent cylinder on the lathe it measured about 7" long x 4" in diameter.

I drew the profile up for this pedestal in AutoCAD and then measured and marked the cylinder for turning.

Because the Hickory is heavily spalted, after I turned the wood to a cylinder I then coated it with Minwax Wood Hardener and let it dry for 24 hours.

When I finished turning the pedestal I again coated it with the hardener.

Spalted wood is especially challenging to work with but well worth it in my opinion.

This picture shows an Aspen bowl sitting on top of the Hickory pedestal.