Cheers everybody for the go-for-it/leave-it advice......my head is now spinning!
David (woodndesign)...Ron's not having it....this lump is for turning soon. I need to build up a portfolio of finished pieces that I can take to a few select local galleries and hotels, and this lump of wood has got that label well and truly printed on it.
Pete....I fully accept your HO, but my current needs make this a special occasion. I am, indeed, fortunate that I didn't have to fork out for this piece. The lady who sold me the rest of the timber thought that I wouldn't want this piece because it was full of knots - bless her. When she realised how enthusiastic I was, she just wanted me to take all the special stuff and do something interesting with it.
George....I'd love to, but I need the practice and I need some striking pieces to show when I look for buyers
David (Buskell)....thanks for the reference and I look forward to seeing the finished piece.....I'm not clear in my mind as to what you mean by an 'incurved rim'....care to enlighten me?
TWiG....thanks....I'm quite familiar with that process for turning without loosing much to the chuck recess. My main difficulty is that the platter will be the maximum size that I can spin over my bed. So, to reverse chuck it I'll have to set a second bed-bar bracket onto my bench-top and slide the bars back out of the way to get clearance to chuck it. Also, I'll have to make a special set of extended jaws for my soft-jaws chuck because the current set isn't big enough to cope with it.
Thanks guys....I might not get around to it this weekend as I'm going down to the show at ISCA, where I'll no doubt bump into George and I definitely won't be taking the lump of burr with me (sorry George)
Les