Jenga!!!

[twosoc]

Hi guys its brain picking time! Yesterday, after cleaning out the storage shed I came across a jenga set "liberated" from a pub it used to work in.

Do any of you know what type of wood jenga sets are made from? its the normal sized one not the giant size.

After spending most of the evening gluing it into a 5" bowl blank I proceeded to turn it this afternoon. Apart from a few gaps which the glue didn't quite fill (they don't fit together as well as I had assumed) I managed to produce a halfway decent bowl. I had a few problem with end grain tear as the direction was kinda like parquet flooring but overall a beautiful wood to turn.

Sooo... I just wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction as I would dearly like to try a solid piece sometime. I was thinking cedar but never having seen or turned it I wouldn't know.

Thanks in advance, Tim.

 

[Bodrighy]

One of my kids had one that was made out of box. Don't know if this is the norm. I've seen plastic ones as well :lol:

Pete

 

[twosoc]

Ha at least I've narrowed it down to what its not!
I wonder where I can get some box to test it against?

 

[Chris Knight]

The use of an expensive scarce wood like Box must be very unusual for a mass market product like this.

 

[Anonymous]

If it's mass produced it will prob be Beech... any pics of yours Tim?

Check the fourth paragraph down on this page..
http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_jenga

 

[twosoc]

any pics of yours Tim?

Ha, If I knew how to post piccys yes. I'll try to have a go this week. I don't think its beech, it turns similarly but it softer and doesn't have the darkish grain

 

[Bodrighy]

The use of an expensive scarce wood like Box must be very unusual for a mass market product like this.

A lot of the cheap wooden chess sets were made of box so maybe it's a thing of the past. Apparently it was quite a common wood for things like this.

Pete

 

[CHJ]

A lot of the cheap wooden chess sets were made of box so maybe it's a thing of the past. Apparently it was quite a common wood for things like this.
Pete

60-50 years ago, when there was still the remnants of a hand carved printing block requirement it was becoming more difficult to get larger pieces, I spent hours watching a craftsman carving the detail, but also interestingly joining small pieces together to make a big enough area, this lead to some frustration and loss of output if it all went pear shaped after carving due to differing wood movement.

Butt joints and reinforcing tongues, the guy finished the joint surfaces and the perfectly flat and smooth top surface on some home made machinery which also had the facility to automatically scribe the dot hatching for newsprint blocks.

Fascinating to watch I only hope someone had the presence of mind to preserve it all.

Somewhere I have a sample of his work that went astray, I will have to try and look it out.
It was not unusual to arrive at his bungalow in a middle of a field to find armed guards there because of the value of the jewels he was painting or engraving.

He was a commercial artist by definition, but a mechanical genius to boot, everything in his system was personally made from the fourstroke engine running a generator to the electrically driven pendulum clock.

The lions above Dudley Zoo gates were made to his design and artwork.

His surname was Irvine but for the moment I cannot recall his christian name, he was always Mr Irvine to me, I just gratefully received the very expensive art brushes that he gave me as no longer any good because the one or two hairs at the point were worn.

 

[CHJ]

Sorry for continuing to take this thread off topic but I found the Box printing block.

It's started to move a bit since I aquired it 60 yrs ago but I doubt it had anything other than hide glue to hold it, I know the guy made all his own masking tapes/sheets with goldsize and mixed his own glues.