Curly Wurly Wooden Trunk

I mentioned yesterday that I'd been to a wood yard to look for a mantelpiece. I went back today to finalise details and found this sitting in one of the sheds. The fellow I had been dealing with was by this time talking to someone else so I didn't disturb him to ask what kind of wood it was. It's a tree trunk about a metre high and a metre and a half wide. It hasn't had any work done on it yet but I believe it is destined to be a glass topped table. Somebody is going to have a beautiful piece of furniture.