Monkey Puzzle

[MikeL]

I've just acquired some pieces of recently felled Monkey Puzzle. Having never worked with it before, some advice please.

Should I rough turn it now or leave it to dry?
Should I leave the bark on or take it off?
Is there a good way of dealing with the sticky sap? Does it fly around if turning it wet?
What is the best way of drying it - naturally; boil it (I've had success with this on other woods); some other way?

Any other tips?

Many thanks.

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Mike,
Remove the bark and the outer soft sticky layer before rough turning it. This will get rid of the worst of the sap. The firmer inside wood doesn't have any of that sticky resin.
The bark and sticky sap's truly horrible stuff. Wear cheap gloves and chuck 'em away afterwards - I used a wood chisel and a small pry-bar. Clean up with meths.

It's best to rough turn it and let it dry naturally IMHO.

It's softwood and because you turn it end-grain on the bulk of it'll dry relatively quickly without too much cracking but put PVA or end-seal on the side-branch end-grain because that's the densest part to prevent it splitting.

Getting clean cuts on the inside of any size of MP bowl is really tricky because the timber's so coarse but I reckon that one of Simon Hope's 6mm Pro carbide ring tools might do a good job http://www.hopewoodturning.co.uk/carbide_tools_23.html.

I hope it works for you. I've had some success with MP in the past but I can't say it comes close to being a favourite timber.
It's an experience but that's as far as I'd go.
HTH
Jon

 

[beganasatree]

Hi Mike,
Welcome to the forum,chipmunk has given you some good pointers and I would add the wood is soft and the knots are HARD so keep the tools sharp.

Peter