se7enthdevil

this one's within walking distance for me. possibly the oldest tulip tree in the country. The Woodland Trust | Ancient Tree Hunt | Tree details .

here is an excerpt from the prota4u web page for ceiba pentandra. original page.http://www.prota4u.info/protav8.asp?h=M4&t=Ceiba,pentandra&p=Ceiba+pentandra Ceiba pentandra originated in the American tropics. Its natural distribution has been obscured by its widespread introduction after about 1500. Although it has been described as introduced by humans in tropical Africa, there is no historical evidence of such introduction, and there is strong ecological, botanical and cytological evidence that the tree is native to western and central Africa. The dispersal mechanism by which the tree may have crossed the Atlantic Ocean is uncertain, but the fruits float and might have been transported by ocean currents. It has been argued that the tree was domesticated in West Africa, from where it spread to East Africa and Asia. It is now cultivated all over the tropics, but mainly in South-East Asia, especially in Indonesia and Thailand. In tropical Africa the tree appears to be native from Cape Verde eastwards to Chad and southwards to Angola. In addition, there are records of the species in 13 other countries in East and southern Africa (including South Africa) and the Indian Ocean islands, but the tree has probably been planted in all other tropical African countries as well. it is often known as a variety C. pentandra var. guineensis so it may be kapok after all.

only cheap crap pewter contains lead... true pewter should be mostly Tin with the remainder being Copper, Antimony and Bismuth.

if you end up going to bristol you can pick me up on your way there and i'll be your hired muscle if you like. i buy alot off of ebay and i think gary prentice is right. this should be a problem for the seller not you. get in touch with ebay and find out what their viewpoint is but i think they will say that until it is in your hands you have not received it so responsibility lies with the seller of the item. the courier leaving a card and getting a signature sounds dodgy but it has happened to me. the courier left the card just as i noticed he was leaving the package round the side of the house the so i went round the front and signed for my package, so it can happen.

oh dear, how embarrassing. i knew something wasn't quite right about that but when spell check didn't come up i did nothing about it. not a word i've really used before. blaisey, try pewter not putah. aluminium melts at 660c and pewter only 230c.

nice effect. you might want to try putah as i think it has a lower melting point so you should get less charring. i know quite a few turners who play around with putah for filling cracks.

no i don't think you need another stretcher underneath the top. i buy mine from the cheapest source i can find. ebay is often a place where people get rid of excess stock for a fairly cheap price and as for brands in my opinion they are all much of a muchness. in the past i've used rustins, suffolk pigments and now have some blackfriars in a 5 litre tin for under £30. it's gone up a smidge but is still good value. Blackfriar Danish Oil 5 Litre Clear *****Free Postage | eBay

sadly most of the mills i spoke to did not want to know about it and a few even said that our english beech was pants compared to the continental stuff. for straightness on the whole i might agree but in my opinion our is much harder which is better for my skittles. i ended up having to get people to mill me large beech trees to my specs as no lumber yard was prepared to even entertain the sizes i need for my skittles. in the end i got that near 5' beech milled and took the whole 130ft3.

when wet it is usually a reddish pink. it may not show it in this picture but it is a red colour with hints of peach and pink that oxidises to brown. whitmores timber just call it CND (colour no defect) but chanel timber refer to it as red kern. either way it's just not prime white beech which is usually what sawmills want. .

that's a new one on me... i've only heard redheart till now. can see why though as it's brown once kilned.

this one arrived only last year from julian mitchell at totally trees Home and is on here as http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/totallyjules.html this tree fell over root plate and all in high winds but was totally sound. the colour goes through the entire tree branches included and is solid as the rest of the wood. redheart has often been described as a polite term for heartwood in beeches as it can have a varied width sapwood. it's along the same lines as olive figure i ash, not all ash trees have it but it's not fungal decay or even a precursor. .

here are some examples of redheart i have bought over the years. .

not all colour will be spalting. here is a good description of redheart in beech. Redheart

what's shigo? to be fair having a second look i think i am mistaken and it is a pathogen which in time will rot out as skyhuck has stated rather than redheart which is just normal colour for some older beech trees.

all oils will enrich the timber colour slightly and i use danish for everything so id say use that.

agreed. the timber trade call it redheart and it is not used for milling into lumber for your classic prime white beech. quite sad really as i shudder to think how much perfectly good beech has been wasted over the decades for not being the right colour.

assuming that this is on the underside and you are using it for carving is that not the point on the bar that gets used the most and most likely gives the most wear?

you should be able to discern what species you have by looking at the end grain with a magnifying glass or jewelers lense. Turkey Oak | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods) English Oak | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods) there is a distinct difference in the width of the medullary ray and pore structure.

i thought manna ash had a featureless smooth bark like a beech. the one near me has plain grey smooth bark.

acer negundo?

agreed, cedar...

anyone who eats something without checking what it is first gets what they deserve in my opinion. will eating one or two berries and seeds kill you? will it even do them harm?

i hope some of that timber got used for turning. it's beautiful colour.

can't believe that something of that stature doesn't have a TPO.

S&L hardwoods charge way too much in my opinion. try and ask the seller of that item if they are willing to post. interparcel have been very good on delivering long boards in the past. Courier Quote - Package Details the biggest i've had delivered was a metre wide board of 1" african mahogany, it was 6 foot long too. i just put in the dimensions of a package for the 3 long boards (22cm x 6cm x 245cm 18kg) into the quote page and got £15.78