A couple of years ago a local tree surgeon who finds all sorts of goodies for me, burst through my shop door carrying a big lump of timber. He's a huge bloke with a booming voice, which rang out, "This any good to you, Syms?"
What he was carrying appeared to be a good-sized burr, which he assured me was a wellingtonia. Well, a burr it definitely was not, but it was quite understandable that a tree surgeon would mistake it for one. It was a broadly hemi-spherical lump, about 65cm diameter and 20cm deep and its smell was amazing.
I turned it today and once again, the smell returned a strongly as before. It turned really well without any tear out, and there was loads of evidence of resin pockets, most of which had crystalised into hard, silvery deposits in the grain. The bark was beautiful, very like English Walnut bark, in that it appears to be made up of strata of varying intensity in colour, but instead of walnut brown, this was a range of reds.
Anyway, what is left is a 16" x 5" bowl with s waxy feel to it, which is presumably resinous content in the timber. What I need to know is what I can do to the surface to reduce the waxiness of the resin, otherwise I fear that it will all bubble up to the surface and spoil the finish. I've tried wiping it with cellulose thinners, so we'll see what it feels like in the morning. I'm just interested to see if anyone else has turned this timber and how they got on with the problem of the resin.
Les