devon TWiG
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Everything posted by devon TWiG
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It is nice to turn , cuts cleanly, often has burrs ( as this one has ) which can be utilised to make a more beautiful / saleable product , has a novelty/ rarity kudos and is a lovely golden colour to the heart wood and white cream sap wood but like so many timbers it goes dark brown in time !! Many woodworkers are unable to distinguish between Mulberry and Robinia esp with burrs ! I would not pay a great deal for it as I have too much other nice wood to be getting on with at the moment and do not want a whole heap of one type of wood ! Good chance that someone will though . Nice to see it still in large lumps though and not sliced up in to less usable pieces from a turners point of view ,... well mine anyway !!
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Just out of curiosity ( no UKIP agenda !!) are many / any eastern europeans entering this industry ? I come across plenty in agriculture but have not heard of any in this industry yet . Plenty of Brits , myself included have worked overseas .
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Keepin natural colour In wood. What oils?
devon TWiG replied to Big Beech's topic in Woodcraft Forum
I use Liberon finishing oil on most of my turned wood ,it will cause yellowing to some degree on very pale wood ,sycamore etc , however on that piece of walnut ? I think it could be the best oil finish you will get , it is a pretty durable finish and easy to work . What does a piece like that cost ? ... -
Laburnum bole for turning/milling, what's it worth ?
devon TWiG replied to Gareth Smith's topic in Milling Forum
If I was nearer I would be interested, sounds about £50 pounds worth , more if all the branches 3 inch plus were also included , Laburnum is useful in small sizes as well as the bigger bits , in fact the bigger they get in my experience the more the centre is likely to be decayed , but still useful wood . It is worth any one putting this sort of wood to a shaded corner of their yard for sale at a later date , shame to log it as others have said !! Just seen your pics and would have liked the Monkey Puzzle as well !! -
Any tip sites for wood and chip near rock in Cornwall ?????
devon TWiG replied to i-am-tree-climber's topic in General chat
I know Rock is a very wealthy area , but a Monetary Cypress ?? lol -
It is not very forgiving ! it is prone to crack and split and warp in my experience , and this time of the year with relatively warm and dry weather any problems will be multiplied !! It is often the case that timbers with the higher values , have these values not just because they are rare ( in large size ) but also because the fault rate is high and I think Cherry falls in to this category . Lovely wood though , and smells beautiful !! good luck !!
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Seems a bit of a shame to put such a fine finish on something that is just going to be battered about !! nice work mate !
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I have just finished a walking stick handle for myself from oak burr and know exactly what you mean about wanting a smooth finish , but like the figuring , so I crushed up a bit of charcoal from the fire to a fine dust and mixed it with Titebond glue and rubbed it into al the small cracks , then once totally dry sanded it back and all the small cracks now still look like cracks but are smooth and flush to the surface and natural looking . I will oil it a few times to finish it once it is joined to the stick shaft .
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With trunks like this , which are not really movable from site in one piece ( not worth bringing in lifting gear ) or not really suitable , time and mess wise for milling , I personally would cut in to rings slightly longer than the diameter , then cut each ring vertically from bark to bark through the centre ( or pith if off centre ) so I had 2 "D" shaped pieces that were more easily movable , each of these would make a good large bowl blank , after trimming to shape with a chainsaw , I cut a great deal of my blanks this way anyway . Seems a shame it was not used, but unless you know a turner and what he wants this will always happen , and as many others have said before not many turners want to pay much , but for example if these chunks were in a yard near me cut as I said , I would pay in the region of £10 per lump .and by looking at that lump would expect it to yield 8-10 blanks ....
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Could any one give me a rough idea how much it would cost to train as a tree surgeon nowadays ? This would include all necessary cs units , for chainsaw use and climbing, aerial rescue etc ... ( training and assessment costs please ) I am not considering doing this , I did it all years ago and have now retired from full time tree work , but am curious as to training costs in relation to potential income in comparison to other trades / professions .
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I have not done any craft shows etc for years , when I did it was mostly cash and cheques, but I have been considering doing a few this year and was about to start researching this my self , as few people use cheques and cash now , so thanks for starting this thread and I hope some useful responses come up ! I have seen some people paying via mobile phone at some events but know little about it . By the way Badgerland what crafts do you do & sell ? ( mine is turned wood mostly ) ...
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I recently had to climb and prune a tree I planted ! It kind of gave a strange perspective on life . Full time commercial climbing is really a young man's game but being able to do a job now and then is a bit different though .
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What if for example... none of the branches on the side of the tree to be pruned are over -- for example- 2" how could you climb or use a ladder to carry out pruning works safely to avoid trespass ? Perhaps he has thought about this and considered a small alloy scaffold tower and long reach saw / loppers to carry out the work ! ? Which seems quite sensible to me .
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A griselinia bowl !
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I am certain as I will ever be that it is Griselinia littoralis , from NZ originally, down here in Devon they are plentiful and some quite large , 30 foot + in height and 2 foot dia , I have turned quite a bit of this over the last year or so from one especially large specimen , nicely figured wood and very dense / close grained , sold a few bowls and have quite a few more " roughed out " and ready to finish when time / demand permits !
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I have seen this plenty of times whilst loading firewood in the dark mostly it was very pale ,partly rotted oak sapwood .
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Pyrography machines are only really for small designs , ( I sign the bottom of my turnings with one ) the tips are quite fine , probably too fine for what I think you want too use them for , perhaps try a poker in the fire when you are on site ?
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What is your mostest favourite wood then ?
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You can also make things like this from Yew , ( this piece about 300mm tall ) this was turned from fresh ( green ) wood and although Yew can be a bit prone to cracking it distorts very little during drying , its colour can vary greatly but the uglier and knottier the better for me !!
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I have experimented a bit with ivy in the past and more recently, but not large diameter stuff though , I like the very contorted/fused stem type pieces , and have some nice curved bits drying at the moment which I intend to carve some shark jaw bones from !!! I think it has great potential for use in woodcraft , but as yet under used . I hope you try something and let us know how you get on !
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It does look quite nice and interesting , but what do you perceive it's end use to be ? Table tops perhaps ? it may be a bit soft for that , it would be interesting to see if it sells , or if you make something from it be sure to put some pics up ( I know it will not be for some time yet , unless you kiln dry it ) I do not think I have ever seen anything made from MP apart from turnings .
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Also , did you know that the semi precious stone "JET " the black stuff from the east coast is actually the knots of ancient monkey puzzle trees that have been fossilised a bit like coal over many thousands of years !!
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I do not really think Monkey Puzzle is worth milling , the only real value to turners is the rings towards the top of the main stem where branch stubs are visible in the bark ( or where branches have been removed ) and cut in to rings between nodes ( whorls of knots ) and used end grain to turn bowls or hollow vessels ( see pic ? ) it is not pleasant to turn , it stinks when part dried , and is horribly resinous when fresh , but can yield pleasant results , as a guide the useful pieces fetch about £5- £10 per ring if about a foot or so in dia . I have turned plenty and it has never blunted my tools !!! it is very soft and not easy to get a good finish on and can be a" bumpy ride" whilst turning ! This piece is slightly spalted !
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Wait until it is felled and trimmed out , Yew varies in colour a great deal , and is very prone to having a lot of shake ... The hoppus foot measure is a bit irrelevant here really as many sections of yew is so un-round , fluted etc it is hard to estimate ... but if it is nice wood in colour with minimal shake then it is worth more than £ 3.00 per cu ft , even small branch wood is useful and saleable and it keeps well so any one buying for their own use should be stocked up for years . The owner seems aware it is worth more than firewood ... but will they accept the best offer they get ? .. or hang on in the hope for more ?, it is not often easy but that is how market forces work unfortunately !!
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I personally would not buy wood without seeing and feeling it , I prefer to cut it from log form myself , also the cost of postage tends to make it a bit expensive , most craftsmen source their wood locally and there is plenty of it about , decent butts can be valuable but try getting a merchant to send out a lorry ( with hiab ) for one butt , it is a sad but long standing situation. Anything more than firewood value , without having to cut split and deliver it is a bonus surely !
