se7enthdevil

well said yaffle trees, us turners need more guys like you...

i think red opak is a good shout, possibility it could be a black oak (quercus velutina) but i cant find a description of the bark so cant be sure.

my god thats alot of sap. what is that 8-9"???

some pictures of that stuff would be appreciated, never actually seen it before.

i think big j has his going for about 3-4 months non stop...

i dont remember bumping in to you??? surely you just burried an octopuss!!!

yep clives got the gear, my mate has a woodmizer and may be able to help. Winson Woodcraft Tree Surgery traditional crafts shabby chic hand made Sawmilling Services

think i'll try that then, i'll get it full of hot coals then open her up foe maximum flow for the hottest heat possible. how long does it have to be red hot for???

it would be a very simple method for me. we have a wood fire, could i get it red hot in that and then quench??? it doesnt have to be a masterpiece i just want to have a go but have a useable knife once im finished

like the idea of making my own knife but how do you go about hardening the blade. could use some step by step guides iof there are any..

hey james, why dont you ask clive what sort of furniture he makes from welly. i remember him posting about adelivery of trees a few months back. he sould be able to tell ou what thickneses he uses and what lenths are safe before they snap...

thats a good point, this was one set of species i.d, that i was not sure about when looking at the foliage and they've helped me out...

strangely this is one area where i wont be able to hel as i've only turned one or two bits of this stuff and in neither case was 100% sure as to exactly which species i had. i believed it was wellingtonia but think both can be brittle and both can be hard it realy depend on the area, age of the tree the tree its self as some are hard but some arnt. i do know in thin section they are relativly brittle what is its intended use???

good tip there john. hows your table???

here here my friend. lets hear it for botanical names...

this is why comon names are such a pain in the arse i didnt realise that in this book they are calling the welingtonia a giant sequioa, i thought it was just the costal redwood that had that name. of course they are correct as they are the experts and i only have an opinion. i've always called the sequoiadendron giganteum a welingtonia.

must confess, i've never heard it called "big tree" but i can see why.

we are talking about the same tree not trees. what people call a giant sequoia is the costal redwood.

there are dawn redwoods over here but i dont think that they are very common (i may be wrong) as there is only one near me at a park by the rivers edge crossing the thames at maidenhead. looks very skinny when it looses its needles.

you mis understand, there is only one tree. lots of people call them giant sequoias when they are actually called costal redwoods

technicaly speaking there is no such thing as a sequoia tree. thats the name of a genus of trees or the park where they grow. as previosly stated the, wellingtonia is (sequiadendron giganteum) costal redwood is (sequoia sempervirens) dawn redwood is (metasequoia glyptostroboides) what everyone calles the giant sequoia is of course the costal redwood and are among the tallest trees on earth. there are actually very few costal redwoods as they dont seem to like the british weather. more often than not they are wellingtonias. the wellingtonias are the biggest in volume rather than height. the reason the all look similar is because they are all in the Cupressaceae and have similar characteristics. everything will burn if left long enough. no timber is exempt, hewever these trees are usualy so vast in size that whatever fire damage there is it's never bad enough to kill the tree. fire is often needed to get rid of the old growth and start the new generation.

give me a couple of pics of the timber and i should be able to i.d. it fo you.

alec's right, for one that small it's bet to get the most out of it. never knew it was so stable though... you learn something every day...

probably just a heavy bit of pitch pine. a species known as longleaf or slash pine is pinus palustris weighing about 670kg/m3. should be yellowy orange and resinious. the grain is straight and is one of the heaviest comercial softwoods with the heaviest bits peing sold as picth pine which marries up perfectly with your measurements...

give me some good quality pics of the side face and end grain and i'll do my best to i.d it for you. since it was outside is it wet or dry??? to get a true weight reading leave it inside for a couuple of weeks then re-weigh.