Holly Trees

[porker]

Hi,
I know very little about wood turning (metal is more my thing) but wanted some advice. These holly trees are coming out later this Summer. Are they something turners would be interested in or are they for my log burner? There are 3 in total with about 8ft of trunk and around 10 inch diameter. They look a bit knobbly to me which may be a bad thing.
thanks
Matt

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[finneyb]

Oh Yes definitely interested !!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Holly is lovely wood when properly preserved, very finely grained, uniform and white. It's used for refined work like inlay in none turning and finials/small details in turning.

The challenge is to avoid it getting spoilt by a colour shift away from it's natural white. It needs careful attention to how and when its felled it to avoid this colour change. I recommend you use the search function to find threads on this very subject (search in Custard's posts). If you're unable to wait for deepest Winter for other reasons to fell it, it will likely be poorer quality to useless for woodworking due to this hideous green colouration it suffers from. The nobbles may well be the best bits as they're mini "burrs" which is where the grain goes insane for a while leaving very interesting figure when cut (cats paws etc)

 

[porker]

Thanks Bob for the info, the way my projects go it may well be the winter before I get round to it. I tend to cut wood for my burner in the winter anyway as it dries better because the sap is down. I'll take a look at the other threads and see what the best options are. Seems a shame to burn if it can be used.

 

[Castanea]

I think you'll be waiting a while for holly to dry for burning - it's so fine grained that it doesn't seem to dry in any great hurry. I love the wood but hate the fact that it usually splits on me - even with sealing and standing on end. It's just bloody minded awkward stuff but probably worth a try even if just for the experience
It will just about take a thread so I use it for practicing thread chasing as well as making little boxes and buttons. I mostly only manage to make small things out of it as I'm making the best of the bits between the cracks!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Have you managed some way of avoiding the green hue that seems to plague air drying?

 

[duncanh]

I find that holly spalts wonderfully so usually usually cut it long, seal the ends with wax and put it in a bin bag for a while, although not a particularly well sealed one. That way you don't have to worry about the green staining as it's hidden in the spalting. I've had success just leaving the logs whole and didn't get too much splitting.

 

[Dalboy]

I use holly quite a bit. The holly I got unfortunately did end up with the greenish hue but I still use it for anything that I want to colour as it does finish to a nice smooth finish.

 

[andersonec]

To keep Holly white, it needs to be felled, cut and in a kiln in the same day otherwise you will end up with a green tint through the wood.

 

[LancsRick]

As above, lovely stuff but you need to be able to process it very quickly. You could either get some £ for it, or at the very least any happy recipent should be able to give you the equivalent mass in firewood and still leave very happy!

 

[AndyT]

As good as boxwood for turning or for taking a thread, in my experience.
I got some big chunks from a neighbour years ago. Knowing nothing then about seasoning newly cut wood I just kept them in our well ventilated basement for several years. They split but stayed white.
Keep any branches as well.
Too good to burn.

 

[ed-fish]

I heard that to keep the white colour it needs to be dried in the dark. Not sure how accurate that is but thought i'd post it anyway.

 

[Dalboy]

This is a piece of holly that I am working on at the moment, still needs some shaping by hand along with sanding before I put some colour on it. I dried this in a 6ft log stood upright. The vase is 7" tall.

 

[woodpig]

Nice piece of work. Don't colour it too much as it's great as it is.

 

[Dalboy]

Nice piece of work. Don't colour it too much as it's great as it is.

This one is going to covered in paint, it is one of my experiments with colour and shape