Alder

[coppice cutter]

On 19/02/2022 at 12:08, gobbypunk said:

.............. rots very quickly ,

Rots quickly in air, keeps pretty much indefinitely submerged in water.

 

Most of Venice was original built on alder piles, many still in use.

[Macpherson]

On 15/12/2014 at 15:34, emcgee said:

Whats fresh alder like to carve with?

I've used Alder to make quite a few platters it's such a wet fast growing wood that once it's has dried it becomes quite light in weight so certainly for small items I can achieve complete penetration of Tung oil mixed 50/50 with turps which when after a few soakings to saturate as much as possible and then dry over maybe a couple of weeks or more they become totally durable and survive many hot detergent washes along with all the other dishes, sink not machine.

 

Not exactly carving but dry Alder will certainly soak up loads of oil to replace the lost moisture and regain a bit of weight into the bargain, I like to apply it to one side of a piece of wood till it soaks right through to the other side.

 

For me the beauty of it is that it doesn't take years to dry out before you can use it👍

 

On 19/02/2022 at 09:18, Stubby said:

Fender used it for electric guitar bodies when the ran out of swamp ash . 

As is my Strat👍

[Andy U]

I have carved quite a bit of alder. The colouring is good.
I have found that Rustins water based quick drying decking oil is excellent for sealing most wood especially alder as you can apply to damp timber. Dries hard after a couple of coats.