Monkey puzzle - Swaffham

[oldwoodcutter]

Will be coming down weds 27 sept, heavily branched from base to top.

If of interest please txt 07867 764307

[Marula]

I've been doing this for over a decade and never done one of these, I've heard they're murder on any unprotected skin. What's the timber like? Is it hard or soft when cutting?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Knew a teacher from Swaffam who was working in Germany while I was there in the 90's - she was hard on unprotected skin.....

[oldwoodcutter]

Timbers fairly dense Mr Sword, often full of sap under the bark, and yes, the leaves are as sharp as a witches tongue.
The striking colours are where the knots are of course.

[Marula]

That's quite interesting, I would have thought it to be somewhat similar to pine for some reason.

I've just googled the timber [emoji1360], bloody amazing colours!

[se7enthdevil]

the normal wood is quite soft in my book (but then i do work with wood three times harder than the uk ones) and the knots are like glass once dry.

 

unless it is 3-4' diameter it's only of use to a local woodturner and not all turners like it.

 

i don't.

[Daniël Bos]

The wood is really straight grained generally.
It's easy to work, and it doesn't splinter. This makes it a superb choice for benches in sauna's (coz bare bodies and splinters are not relaxing). There's seemingly endless (very sticky) sap when you cut it, but it's all in the bark, the timber is free of sap/ resin

[Philip Anderson]

The timber is very similar to parana pine ,it's the same family .

parana pine is often used for window boards in new builds because of its straght grain red tinge colour and with a clear or light pine stain look beautiful.

ive worked on several and removed a few over the years always a 2 sweatshirt and 2 pairs of gloves job as they are like razor blades.

[TIMON]

I was surprised how hard the timber was when I took one down. I wasn't so surprised at the spines, like sharks teeth. The chipper didn't like the branches or fronds much either, and that was a pto chipper running off a Mog.

[oldwoodcutter]

Yes I shall be turning the blades in my 230 before chipping anything.