se7enthdevil

i do want hornbeam to try out as the pins they throw these things at are made from hornbeam. eucalyptus is a good idea (what this thread was intended for) but it may not be heavy enough??? if i can get any i'll be happy to give it a go. anyone got any eucalyptus planks???

i thought thorn had a good potential for splitting???

is it bone dry?

i may be revising my opinion about robinia. does anyone have bone dry 3"+ boards of 12" wide? short lengths are ok. hornbeam is also desired as thats what the pins are made from.

possible but if i found a bit big enough it would split badly. the cherry laurel i've been turning recently has been hard enough but there were too many bits splitting. anyone know of any 14" laurel stems?

i've considered greenheart and it may be something i could use but it does like to split and the club members don't want to get splinters. i already turned one from ekki but it started t crack and they didn't want it anymore. alec, pear may be a possibility but it must be dry first... my book says it's the same weight as beech so that may be a cheaper bet.

eddy-t, plane can be a tough interlocked wood but its not heavy enough. bellringer, that beech may be useful, i was going to ask if anyone had any particularly hard bits kicking about. big j, you got any of that wheatly elm in 3"+ all heartwood? muttley, the holm oak would be something i'd like to try but i know it's a bugger for splitting hence why i didn't suggest it, worth a try though...

a heavy elm would be nice, had some wheatly elm from big j and that was hard as rock and fairly heavy. robinia is hard but it's not heavy enough for my needs and would also split as time goes by. i'm making one of these cheese things for a skittles club which currently use lignum vitae. i know i wont get any of that but i'm trying to identify the best substitute as they want to put together a set of pins and cheeses that would be used by paying customers (that will batter the things) rather than the club members that will look after the equipment. i'm thinking either hornbeam or beech but wondered if anyone knew of a tougher timber that is as heavy as possible that's relatively easy to get hold of.

i know i'm a know it all on this subject but i know only about the more commercial timbers. i wish to know if anyone can suggest an unusual timber that could be very hard, heavy and tough once dry. have we a better suggestion than hornbeam. i'd need sections of plank 12x3" so can't be too small a tree. any help appreciated.

just thought i'd show everyone the potential of some of the stuff that generally gets thrown on the fire or chipped. these are all laurel bowls, prunus laurocerasus. these were all turned at differing points in the rot process the freshest being the two nests of three that were quite wet when cut. all the little ones were about 6 months dry i believe and had been kept off the ground but had some discolouration in them. the oldest bit in case you hadn't guessed its the multicoloured orange and black bowl that i think must have been in contact with the ground and was much drier than the other bits. you wouldn't think they were the same wood, would you... .

by the sound of it you are using bits with the pith in, am i right? as it's only last years wood it will be no where near dry enough as even small branches under 3" would need 2-3 years to be 100% dry. get wood that is split from small logs if want to continue turning mushrooms and tea light holders. if you wish to progress to bowls then you may need to rough turn them or buy kiln dried bits from a shop or someone on here. ebay would be a good place to find some cheap boards to cut in to blanks for turning. if you wish to rough out the bits to dry them further then take a look at what i've been doing for the past 4 months. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/woodcraft-forum/65439-bowl-turning-thread.html if you look at page nine you can see that i've turned bowls that have an even thickness at around 3/4"-1" thick. they then warp and shrink a little but have less stress in the wood so have less chance of splitting. keep an eye on the weight of them so you can see how much they loose. 25% is an average but some loose more some less.

be interested in that plus the stem. not turned hazel before as it gets tossed on the fire too quickly for us turners to get a bit. i'd happily give £20

that's a biggie for MP, can you show the result to stihlben, he had a thread for a puzzle that was near 3' wide but didn't have the time to slab it or something. show him some pics of this a say its worth it.

is that the bit of beech you showed? it almost looks like a liquidambar with the contrast between heart and sap.

yes they'll come back to life easily enough and on the plus side, try breaking one... they're pretty much indestructible... buying old is usually better when you're talking about old tools like these and even though mine isn't that old i was happier buying that than some new crap that will probably fall apart in 5 mins. it's usually cheaper too. wd40 and a little wire wool + elbow grease = one working vice:thumbup:

it's not just the knots mate it's the whole tree. millions of years ago they were washed down to the sea and got seriously flattened et'voila jet...

heres another one wanting tons of dosh for not much. walnut timber | eBay most of it's rotten.

£3 is a fair price id say...

i'm currently finding it a nightmare to turn a bit i got from luckyleaf. it goes from very hard to soft in comparison. the knots blunt your tools too.

just for putting it through a planer wont add that much on it... i know of lanarkshire hardwoods and wonder how they can be in business. if a board is downright stunning then you can charge an awful lot for it but it must be AAAAA grade to command those sorts of prices.

sound advice by muttley there. there should be no major problems if stacked and stored properly. pine should be milled more often in my opinion as we get some good quality logs over here and they usually go for firewood rather than joinery which they would be perfect for.

you see a few numpties on ebay trying their luck not having the faintest idea that a bunch of 8" stems is the same as firewood prices.

probably because you are charging too much. this one works out at £150ft3 Lot 4005 Cedar Ripple wood/timber/plank/board 213cm x 19.3cm x 2.1cm | eBay you've listed some nice timber rob but i'd never buy wood at the prices you are asking.

i think the 60ft is adding all the branches and twigs up...

correction, i have a 53e. mine is still yet to be fitted in to a bench (i'll do it one day) but these were what we had at my old joinery place. it still has the threaded studs for putting a pair of jaws in it as most have lost them and people just use large screws instead. as you can see in the last photo i have modified the back plate and cut away the corners so that the bolt tangs can pass it. this allows a little more opening of the jaws and mine now get 14 1/2" inside but this is without any jaws so i expect 13 1/2" when they are fitted. this is still slightly bigger than the 11 1/2" that most vices allow. the 53e may be the biggest opening vice but i'm not sure.