Wellingtonia - beautiful figure

[Random Orbital Bob]

Last winter I harvested a few fallen branches from our local Sequoia avenue. Today I started to resaw them to make blanks for 18 wedding flower holders that will be destined to hang off the pews in church at a wedding next summer. The figure in the wood after band sawing off the bark was stunning.

Just to see what it was like after a bit of spinning I turned a quick door knob (no finish or anything, just off the lathe). I really like this giant redwood and there was no appreciable sap that everyone always warns about. Nice stuff, I'll use it again.

 

[marcros]

what lathe are you using now bob? you sold your "little" record didn't you?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I've not sold the CL4 yet. The family illnesses this past year got in the way but I will do it soon. I ended up getting a serious 2nd hand bargain through my club, an original Woodfast, circa 1990 when they were still made in Australia. It's a beauty, the quality of the engineering is lovely. It's what Record Power now market as the Maxi 1 which of course Woodfast manufacture. Mine predates the RP relationship and predates Woodfast outsourcing to China. It's a right old beast but it's a joy to use and beautifully made. The inverter was knackered but 9 fingers soon had that sorted and its a real gem of a machine now

To be honest the CL4 does come in handy for club practical days in my garage but it will have to go so I can reclaim the space. Will be sorry to see her go, she gave me a fabulous apprenticeship into turning

 

[CHJ]

...... Today I started to resaw them to make blanks for 18 wedding flower holders that will be destined to hang off the pews in church at a wedding next summer. The figure in the wood after band sawing off the bark was stunning.
...

Now you need to get the thinking cap on and work out how you need to orientate the blanks or shape your vessels to maximize the figuring detail.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

If only there was some kind of turning competition where I could submit examples of finished pieces

 

[John15]

Beautiful wood Bob, and anyone visiting Southern California should go to see these giant trees in King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks (I think that's their correct name as it was several years ago that I visited). They are absolutely enormous.

John

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Yes, the ones in Finchampstead down the road from Wellington College are apparently 2-300 years old and they are gigantic. An entire avenue lined on both sides, most impressive. (Which is where mine came from).

 

[Wizard9999]

Beautiful wood Bob, and anyone visiting Southern California should go to see these giant trees in King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks (I think that's their correct name as it was several years ago that I visited). They are absolutely enormous.

John

+1

One of my favourite places in the whole wide world.

If I recall there is a tree called the General Sherman, used to be thought of as biggest living thing on earth until they discovered some crazy underground fungus thing. A brach came off that a while back that would have kept you in timber for life! The ones in Finchampstead may be impressive in the UK context, but in California they would be mere saplings.

Terry.

 

[dickm]

Yes, the ones in Finchampstead down the road from Wellington College are apparently 2-300 years old and they are gigantic. An entire avenue lined on both sides, most impressive. (Which is where mine came from).

Are they actually that old? I thought they only came into the UK in the early 19th century (OK, that's 200 years, but only just). Aren't they called Washingtonia in the US, but the Brits preferred to honour Wellington rather than some upstart revolutionary?
But that's lovely figuring; had always assumed they'd be just a bland softwood.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

there was a post on here not long back with a link to some fabulous black and white footage of some of the early US Lumber industries hand sawing the redwoods for use on the emerging railways. The methods they used to hand cut them look daunting as they are for sure a mighty tree.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

This from Wiki - you're right, another local myth debunked Now if you can all stop picking on my (what are clearly now just toothpicks) lovely Sequoia and bog off I can enjoy the figure

Wellingtonia Avenue is a road in Finchampstead, Berkshire, UK. The road is lined with over one hundred giant sequoia trees, known at the time of planting as Wellingtonia.

History

The road was built in 1863 through woodland known as Finchampstead Ridges to the east of Finchampstead. The woodland is now managed by the National Trust.[3] The road leads from the ridges in the west toward Wellington College in Crowthorne to the east.[4] The road's construction was initiated by John Walter from Bearwood House,[3] some 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) to the north-west.

The trees were planted in the early 1860s (most sources report around 1863 and 1865, though other sources state the planting began as early as 1859 or 1861or as late as 1869

 

[Duncan A]

The RFS claim that their....
"forest at Leighton contains one of the most famous and historically significant stands of trees in the UK. The cathedral-like stand of towering coast redwoods was planted in 1857 and still stands today, unthinned and healthy."

And..."The original redwoods of the Old Grove, now more than 150 years old and amongst the oldest outside the natural range in California, still stand. Some exceed 40m in height and 20 cubic metres in volume, representing a volume of almost 3000 cubic metres per hectare. They remain unthinned under the terms of Charles Ackers’ gift. Their natural lifespan can be up to 2200 years and averages 300 to 700 years, so our oldest redwoods are still young by comparison."

I haven't seen them myself but hope to go over there when next I'm in the area - a couple of miles SE of Welshpool.

More info here http://www.rfs.org.uk/about/our-woods/c ... r-pinetum/.

Duncan

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Its amazing they even thrive in our climate when you think about their native California isn't it.

 

[Wizard9999]

Well, I shall be driving past Wellingtonia Avenue soon after the next windy night, lol.

Terry.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Interesting stuff. What's the process / time scale from harvesting to usable timber?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

General rule of thumb is an air drying time of 1 year per inch of thickness plus a year. So a heck of a long time even for branch wood. I've got into the habit of just harvesting whatever wood I can when the opportunity presents itself and then storing it in a suitable drying location. I then generally don't go back to it for at least a year and often longer. If it's a bowl, I'll then rough it out and store in a cool place, sometimes in a bag for a few more months and then finish turn it. That works really well. The older it is the more stable but also more dusty and scratchy it is. My guess is that Wellingtonia will dry much faster than hardwoods because it is noticeably lighter.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Had a little spinning time yesterday and ploughed on with the Sequoia. I'm making 18 flower pots which will be hung off church pews at a wedding and the client wants an "eclectic mix" of shapes and woods but all to an internal dimension that will allow a small can of sweetcorn to be dropped into the final hollow form for waterproofing. I have suggested to the client that we can waterproof the wood with that Rustin's product and we may just go that route. They plan to use oasis inside anyway so it wont be like its containing loose liquid.

Anyway, I thought since we'd begun a discussion about the tree you may as well see what the first piece turned out like. Finish was just a little tung oil.

The shot of the two piles of coloured shavings is to demonstrate the difference in colour between the sapwood and heartwood. As it came off the tool you could really see why it's called the Redwood once I was hollowing out the pith.

The first shot clearly shows the amazing variation in the grain and colour when a knot is in the mix. It looked almost Picasso style it was so crazy grained. Really quite striking. Oddly though, I don't think the finished piece has really captured that wacky grain that well. The figure is striking but it's lost something on the way to my mind. I took pains to try and keep that in but regret to say I think I've failed on this occasion. Maybe the piece would benefit from being longer so it includes more of the wild grain to be effective??

 

[Wizard9999]

Agree the finished item does not look quite as bonkers as the wood before turning, but I think as you say this is simply down to size, not any failure on your part. I guess it is a big tree, with big grain and would look best on a big item . Hey but what do I know, never turned a thing in my life.

Terry.