Couldn't resist - Laburnum and Plum

[Random Orbital Bob]

I know I know....here they are anyway

The plumb (which might be damson) turns beautifully cos I just spun a bit. very nice at taking sharp details.

All pva...no wax yet.

 

[Grahamshed]

Slurp
Slurp

Are you labelling all these Bob or relying on basic knowledge to remember which is which ?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I do label them yes - with the wood and the month/year it was felled if I know and/or processed - essentially the start of its drying time is what I'm trying to capture. With bowl blanks I record the diameter in inches too - just saves measuring when I come to use it.

 

[Dalboy]

Every one seems to be getting Laburnum lately I want some :twisted:

Great haul you have there

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

mine isn't as big as yours...... :'(

 

[NickWelford]

I'm starting to feel the little green pangs of jealousy creeping in.......

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I just got lucky that's all and 3 different people all offered me timber that would otherwise have been wasted (in Jan this was). Then my own Ash tree got blown down in Feb so that added a ton...then my neighbour who's building from scratch started mullering trees left right and centre and said just fill yer boots. So I got all the garden species and as a result have a couple mature apple trees and the butt of that plumb you see. The Laburnum was from somewhere else. The plum is rotten right through the core unfortunately. On the bandsaw today a colony of ants proceeded to march out of it tom n jerry style...made me smile. There is plenty of useable wood but just have to cut round it.

Its incredibly sappy and the sap has stained my bandsaw table, goodness knows whats in it. But its as hard as nails and turns beautifully, its full of figure and an amazing pinky, reddy purply concoction of colours. Cant wait for it to dry and have a proper go.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Just had a quick spin of some thorn too...that is a lovely wood for details. Really tight grained and dense. Fabulous for skew work. Ruddy boring colour though

 

[gregmcateer]

I think the phrase is....
You lucky, lucky BEEP!

 

[Grahamshed]

I do label them yes - with the wood and the month/year it was felled if I know and/or processed - essentially the start of its drying time is what I'm trying to capture. With bowl blanks I record the diameter in inches too - just saves measuring when I come to use it.

That all sounds very efficient. I admire that.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

well once you've had a bit of experience with different woods you wouldn't want to mix them up because the project you're working on may depend on a particular type. Best example I can think of is say a candlestick where you want some fine beads and cove details or a finial for a box lid. For those fine details you don't really want an open grained wood like perhaps oak because the really small crisp edges will crumble or fail to hold up to use.

A fine grained wood like the thorn I was just turning on the other hand makes lovely crisp, wafer thin details that hold up really well. The wood is more like ivory than wood whereas oak is like...well wood!

Usually you're going to recognise the species even unlabelled especially if you have lots together, but there will always be a few stray ones and twos that you're racking your brains trying to remember what they are. If you get into the habit of labelling it when you get it - all that confusion is avoided (assuming of course you knew what the hell it was when it fell on you)

 

[Grahamshed]

Or you could come in with my level of experience and ......
Eeny, meeny, miney mo
I think I will give this a go.
[-o<

( I'm in a silly mood tonight.)
Seriously though, I have been buying a few blanks all labeled so I can use them as reverence points to help me recognise them.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Or you could come in with my level of experience and ......
Eeny, meeny, miney mo
I think I will give this a go.
[-o<

( I'm in a silly mood tonight.)
Seriously though, I have been buying a few blanks all labeled so I can use them as reverence points to help me recognise them.

well that's OK Graham as you're just getting going. Believe me it wont take long before you get to know the different species. When I started I literally raided the wood burning stove pile and turned anything and everything I could actually get to stay on the lathe. I found myself turning a lot of birch and oak branch wood just because its what I had. Oh and chestnut too, I had given one in our garden a major haircut the previous year and that yielded loads of about 3" diameter branchwood that was reasonably straight. I found branchwood an excellent practice medium (quite by accident) because its got no corners, its readily available and its green so its quite forgiving on the catches and the tool edges. I also wanted to learn between centres before attempting bowls as it was obvious they took more skill. Ironically, I started using the skew long before I got anywhere near bowls and long after found it was the most feared tool in the arsenal....no one told me that

 

[KimG]

It's great fun to turn all those unusual woods, Gorse is very nicely marked, Hazel too can look good, Mahonia is bright yellow, I am looking for some Alder as that can also have some interesting grain and is bright orange when fresh cut. Turn them all, it's a great way to learn the different characteristics of the various timbers.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Agreed, the more practice the better. I've not turned Alder but have recently turned Elder Hazel is another good one for being like Ivory.

 

[Grahamshed]

I was waiting till I get a little elder before I try alder. Or should that be get a little alder before I try elder ?

 

[Bodrighy]

Yep, the wood fairy is definitely working overtime LOL

If by thorn you mean blackthorn, it is possibly my favourite wood. You don't see much of it in a decent size very often though sadly. Mahonia I have never successfully dried without it virtually splitting in two, pity 'cos as said it is a gorgeous colour. Hawthorn is a lovely wood to work as well if yo can get any decent sized pieces. Not turned elder but would have expected it to be very soft and stringy. Have to keep my eyes open for some, not that I have any room for more wood at the moment, Had to stash all the burrs outside under a tarp as it is. \/

Pete

 

[KimG]

Elder is surprisingly good and often comes in reasonable sized lumps as it is a fairly quick growing plant, the wood has a distinct smell very like the leaves, it is a uniform pale ivory in colour with an even grain, it takes detail fairly well though not quite as well as Hawthorn or Blackthorn

(I too really like Blackthorn, but like Pete says, it's hard to get decent sized lumps, and I find it pretty prone to splitting too, makes very nice light pulls).

This ultra thin Goblet was made from Elder.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I'm not sure if what I've got is hawthorn or blackthorn because the builder had completely destroyed the hedge now. Further up, there are still plants that currently have a white blossom on, not sure if they're the same species though.

Its lovely though whichever spp.

Also, the Elder was an old stump from a friends farm. I got a couple of bowls out of it which have an interesting spalting. It wasn't very pleasant to turn, it smelt a bit like wee to be honest. But its an interesting colour, its a sort of creamy beige aside from the spalting. Not the usual rather boring white like perhaps hazel or ash. The cream is more pronounced. here, have a look yourself....

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

nice Kim..our posts crossed in the ether. bet that stem was a pig to turn