Thanks guy's,
I've left this run to see where it goes, and hopefully it's done that.
Some of you like the lid, some don't, that's good.
To start with I hope it is Lime. Franz Brown gave me the blank at a demo he did at the club one evening ( a year or so ago) and I've no reason to doubt him. However it's not the colour of any Lime I've ever seen before. Such a warm honey colour.
From the start, even before turning it, I always saw it with a lid, and I felt it need the lift, to be above the surface it rested on and as there was not enough depth to make a foot from the blank I had I know it was going to have to be applied. That then made sense to match the timber top and bottom.
I've gone through 2 different feet and 3 different lids and several more different knobs and finials, to find the balance I like. I tried wood both lighter and darker but is did not sit with the burr very well, I even tried a finish in a high gloss black Japlac, it works for some things, but I did not like it for this.
I felt it need to reflect the piece in some way, so playing with the thinned nightmare (thanks for the reminder Woody) and I managed to match the colour of the burr bark. But that also meant using oak, or at a minimum Ash (as it's also a tannic wood) but either of them was always going to have an open grain.
Having the same brown foot, rim and lid gave (to me) a balance and the added height an elegance (or something like that) to the piece. Maybe it looks better in real life, maybe I photographed the worst angles.
John (BHT), I never thought about using non-wood colours, although I use stains quite a bit in other turnings.
Bodrighywood, if you look closely (especially on the inner side of the lid) you can just make out a metallic sheen, that's one of the Myland Metallic stains, maybe I'll try a second coat see if that works better.
That's the history. However for information, there is still (just) enough thickness to re-turn it if in the future I later feel that the lid is wrong, but for now, I like it as it is (which is the important factor).
For all the thoughts you've put into commenting on this piece, I'd like to offer my thanks.