what's the oddest timber you've turned

[Les Symonds]

This stuff took a bit of beating in the 'whacky timbers' stakes...



Cupressus Macrocarpa, or Monteray Cypress to give it its common name. Grown in a country house near me, this little dish is 14" wide and was turned from wet. I allowed it several weeks out of doors, in the rain, to work off some of the gooey, sticky sap, then turned it as thin as I dared. It was soft and spongy, and it split right through, along a bark-line, so was glued back together with polyurethane gap-filling adhesive, which in turn was scratched back and overfilled with a dark-brown filler, which has blended in really well.
When it dried, it developed a daft shape, one end lifting up, the other dropping....but it'll sell.
It's drinking BLO like crazy, which is increasing the contrast between wood and bark, which is adding to its appeal. I'll scratch away at it with tweezers, picking off a few raised fibres here and there, but otherwise it's just about ready to go.

Les

[bodrighywood]

Totally different to all the macrocarpa I have turned. Soft yes but solid and easy to turn. Looking at yours Les I wonder if it was diseased in some way. Most of mine has been from healthy trees cut down because they got too big and were a hazard.

pete

[Les Symonds]

Totally different to all the macrocarpa I have turned. Soft yes but solid and easy to turn. Looking at yours Les I wonder if it was diseased in some way. Most of mine has been from healthy trees cut down because they got too big and were a hazard.

pete

This was an outside slice off the top of a burr....I have the rest of the burr, which just fits in my wheel-barrow, and that appears to be more normal timber.
Les

[seventhdevil]

a very unusual growth indeed, you did well with it though les.

i've just had a small macrocarpa milled but it's fairly normal grain. smells great though.

[hughie]

oooohhhhh, you lucky little......

i'd love to have some of that, any offcuts left? i'd love to get some for the wood database.

.

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/movingui/

Will have to scratch around and see what I have. Just found some Manoa from NZ? [spelling is questionable ] carbon dated to 3000+ years old havent turned it as yet and to be honest it looks a little dull.
How are off for obscure Australian hardwoods ie Inland Rosewood, Orange Box wood I have a few more, not really sure what I have.

[burywoodturners]

I was once given a fairly thick piece of green wisteria, the layer between the sap and heart wood was purple! I turned a mushroom from it and let it dry, the purple ring shrunk more than the rest of it and left me with an interesting shape. Not much good for anything else.
I have a few bits of keruing  which was given to me when friends disposed of the left over wood from Dad's shed after he died. No knots feature or interest except for the colour. I used it to re make the slats on a friends BBQ, never did get the sausage though.

I have fitted lengths on lorry bucks in the past and took the old bits home for the fire, the oil in it burnt well, and the heat drove the water out through the woo to the other end, it burnt one end and steamed the other!
Ron

[seventhdevil]

oooohhhhh, you lucky little......

i'd love to have some of that, any offcuts left? i'd love to get some for the wood database.

.

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/movingui/

Will have to scratch around and see what I have. Just found some Manoa from NZ? [spelling is questionable ] carbon dated to 3000+ years old havent turned it as yet and to be honest it looks a little dull.
How are off for obscure Australian hardwoods ie Inland Rosewood, Orange Box wood I have a few more, not really sure what I have.

i can ask eric at the wood database but i'm willing to bet he's love a contact from down unde hughie.

reckon i'd also love some stuff as long as postage doesn't kill the idea.

[hughie]

oooohhhhh, you lucky little......

i'd love to have some of that, any offcuts left? i'd love to get some for the wood database.

.

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/movingui/

I guess it depends on the size you want and the volume/weight etc. We could always do a corresponding cost return post etc
Will have to scratch around and see what I have. Just found some Manoa from NZ? [spelling is questionable ] carbon dated to 3000+ years old havent turned it as yet and to be honest it looks a little dull.
How are off for obscure Australian hardwoods ie Inland Rosewood, Orange Box wood I have a few more, not really sure what I have.

i can ask eric at the wood database but i'm willing to bet he's love a contact from down unde hughie.

reckon i'd also love some stuff as long as postage doesn't kill the idea.

[seventhdevil]

I guess it depends on the size you want and the volume/weight etc. We could always do a corresponding cost return post etc

pm sent.


just got my hands on some "ceiba",  "cumaru" and some nice looking sumach

[seventhdevil]

i'll be turning quite a bit of makore this week, not an unusual timber for me but you don't see too much about.

[seventhdevil]

just turned a bit of dark african mahogany which is really nice stuff.

it's not your normal african mahogany which is pink in colour and usually comprises of Khaya ivorensis Khaya nyasica and khaya anotheca. they all weigh 35-40lbs ft3 and are light red to pink with a boring grain.

what i have found is either khaya senegalensis or khaya grandifoliola which is 45-50lbft3 and dark reddy brown in colour with lovely wavy grain with streaks of light and dark in it.

looks bloody gorgeous...

i'll try to get a picture.

[seventhdevil]

finally got round to turning a bit of japanese nutmeg, (torreya nucifera) which is a softwood and is bright yellow and apparently exceedingly rare...

i haven't finished the bowl yet but i'll have to get some pictures of it when i have.

also got my hands on some mgurure (combretum schumannii) along with some afzelia.

[duncanh]

Every tried gorse? Horrible to turn and probably the most abrasive I've tried - tools needed sharpening several times for just a single pen. If you can find a straight enough piece the grain is fantastic and has some great colours in it
This photo doesn't really capture the colour
Gorse pen by duncanhoyle, on Flickr

We managed to get some pieces about 20cm diameter but they all ended up splitting even when turned thin.