AWGB Woodturning Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mike.Peak on June 19, 2019, 08:14:59 PM
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Hello. I am relatively new to turning and recently (end of March) I was given some Monkey Puzzle and Beech?? logs from tree felled in my brother's garden. The logs were transported home, cut to reasonable size, end grain sealed with wax and then stored in a dry garage within 3 days of being felled. Some of Monkey Puzzle logs hard the bark removed and / or the logs were rip sawn down the middle, other were stored uncut, with bark. All end grain was wax sealed, including branch end grain.
Today I had reason to move some of the Monkey Puzzle logs and I found that some have fungus growing on them. Some very dark green and "crusty", some light yellow and "fluffy". It appears to be only the logs that have had the bark removed, on the unsealed parts, both on the cut section and on the outside where the bark was. One log, without bark, but not sawn, appears to have spalting marks on the end grain, under the wax, but does not have large fungus growth on the exposed parts. The wood still appears to be sound. I will attach a couple of photographs. The beech and my other wood seems to be unaffected.
The moisture content reads as ~20% in the unsealed areas and ~27% in the areas sealed with wax.
Does anyone have experience of this? Is Monkey Puzzle particularly susceptible to fungal attack?
Should I burn it all or should I rough turn the Monkey Puzzle, dry it quickly (hopefully to kill the fungus by starving it of moisture) and then store again until I can finish turning it.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Mike
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Monkey Puzzle is an odd timber, from experience with storing and drying it, I would now tend to turn it wet to a rough shape, dry it pretty quickly and finish it off, it's very prone to woodworm, fungus, and just generally turning to junk because it is so soft except the knots which turn which are pretty hard always, and very very hard if you wait too long to turn it.
Actually I would probably tend to give it away, its not very nice really :o
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Hello Mike,
I have turned a fair amount of the timber and would agree with much of what Twisted Trees has said. I would turn it green either to a rough shape or, as I do to a finished shape. It will typically give a fair amount of tear out so really sharp tools are needed. Shear scraping as a finish cut works quite well. Whilst drying I have found it to be very stable with little or no cracking. I am always careful to keep wall and base thicknesses relatively even. Sometimes you might find a rouge piece which is just a soggy mess. If you have a mind to, persevere with it, let it dry and harden the grain before finish cuts. I agree, "its not very nice really" but I never give it away as it is so popular with customers and sells well ;) You may find that gummy stuff sometimes blackens the tools, especially if you are turning through bark. It may also be toxic. The spalting you have noticed may be the grey streaks which are found commonly.
ATB John
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I have used a fair amount of monkey puzzle over time, and even right now have some large pieces in my wood store. A few remarks from my side:
- The bark (or more precisely the vascular cambium) produces copious amounts of an extremely sticky liquid. Therefore I would never consider turning anything with the bark still attached to it, it will just ruin your tools. However, I have found it beneficial to leave the bark in place when storing raw wood for drying.
- The wood itself does not contain any resin, but large amounts of water. In a tree felled in spring or summer, this will also contain nutrients, and fungi love the stuff.
- So in order to dry this wood, leave the bark attached, seal the end grain with some PVA, and check regularly. The fungi shown on your images will affect the wood and should be removed. If you leave them on too long, they will cause deep stains. I have had good results, and my wood store is a stable on a horse yard (i.e. plain air, but no sun).
- Monkeypuzzle has silica particles embedded in the wood. This will blunt your tools a lot faster than you would expect from a coniferous timber.
- Due to the harsh contrast in hardness between the wood itself and the knots, sharp tools and good control are required to achieve decent results. If you leave too much for sanding, the soft wood will sand away a lot faster and leave you with an uneven surface
- Monkeypuzzle takes colour very well. Due to its mostly even grain and relatively bland colour, it is ideally suited for decoration work (colours, carving, pyrography, etc.).
It's not my favourite by a long shot, but it is well suited for all sorts of household items that don't get a lot of wear and tear (candle holders, containers, etc.)