I don't know if it qualifies as a gloat but I found a little treasure
this morning.
On my way to Home Depot, I drove by the neighborhood... Someone just
prune his maple and they cut some fairly large branches. As I pass by,
I happen to look at the end of the branches and see those
characteritic black stripes. I stopped, looked again and sure enough,
3 branches among the biggest are spalted. they're about 8" diameter
and about 4' long. Wow!
I brought them back home, splice them into 4/4 on my band saw. Yup,
spalted maple like you cannot believe! I'll let them dry for a few
months and will turn them into veneer when it's ready.
Once again, someone's trash is someone else's treasure!
Does this qualifies as a gloat?
Greg D.
Greg D. wrote:
> I don't know if it qualifies as a gloat but I found a little treasure
> this morning.
>
> On my way to Home Depot, I drove by the neighborhood... Someone just
> prune his maple and they cut some fairly large branches. As I pass by,
> I happen to look at the end of the branches and see those
> characteritic black stripes. I stopped, looked again and sure enough,
> 3 branches among the biggest are spalted. they're about 8" diameter
> and about 4' long. Wow!
>
> I brought them back home, splice them into 4/4 on my band saw. Yup,
> spalted maple like you cannot believe! I'll let them dry for a few
> months and will turn them into veneer when it's ready.
>
> Once again, someone's trash is someone else's treasure!
>
> Does this qualifies as a gloat?
Free is heavily weighted in all gloat calculations, so yes, absolutely.
R
charlie b wrote:
> If you have a lathe - and some room to store wood - every
> pile of what might be wood MUST be examined and ANY
> wood that MIGHT be turnable HAS to be saved - for some
> future use. Having a bandsaw is also a MUST and a chainsaw,
> left in your vehicle, is handy as hell. Larger wet logettes
> can be damn heavy.
>
> Acquiring spalted maple is a neener.
>
AMEN, brother Charlie, AMEN. You and I both frequent here and the
woodturning NG, and if that was posted over there he would have to
change every traceable route to his house. I turned some vases out of
that stuff a few years ago and stupidly sold them or gave them away as
gifts. I have not seen anything with that kind of dimension that was
worthwhile in some time.
Although I am not as bad as I used to be, my significant other cringes
when she hears the sound of chainsaws in the neighborhood. She knows I
will have to investigate. And sadly, I already have enough turning
material for several years.
Yet, somehow.... that doesn't mean anything. Too much may not be
enough!
Fall weather, a mug of coffee, and it is lathe season for me!
Robert
[email protected] wrote:
>
> Although I am not as bad as I used to be, my significant other cringes
> when she hears the sound of chainsaws in the neighborhood. She knows I
> will have to investigate. And sadly, I already have enough turning
> material for several years.
Sadly? That seems suffic...oh. Sorry. I see your point. There is
more free wood out there. Is that a chainsaw I hear in the background?
;)
R
Toller wrote:
> Hopefully spalted wood doesn't show the bad traits branches are know for.
I was thinking the same thing. I bet if he cuts them into veneers, he
would negate the effects of reaction wood. Does spalting hold up as a
veneer or does it come apart at the black lines?
> Absolutely, you suck.
Definitly.
brian
brianlanning wrote:
> Toller wrote:
> > Hopefully spalted wood doesn't show the bad traits branches are know for.
>
> I was thinking the same thing. I bet if he cuts them into veneers, he
> would negate the effects of reaction wood. Does spalting hold up as a
> veneer or does it come apart at the black lines?
>
> > Absolutely, you suck.
>
> Definitly.
>
> brian
I sure wouldn't worry about spalt on a board, even it was branch wood.
I bought a lot of spalted maple (sold as ambrosia maple - the stuff
created as a by product of boring beetles) as boards and it didnt' work
or act any differntly until I went to finish it. When I put a wash
coat (1# shellac, sprayed) on the wood, it blurred the spalt lines and
made the clear black lining fuzzy.
I would think that you would have the same problem with your veneers.
But in my opinion, cutting it into veneers might ruin it. Branch wood
is so unstable in some pieces that it almost isn't worth boarding in
some species, even if you have a large piece. But veneers..... if you
do this I think "you pays your money and you takes your chances".
Veneer wood must be as stable as possible, and remember it will b
exposed to a lot of moisture in the application process.
Just my thoughts. Now that EBAY and affordable 18" bandsaws have
provided affordable veneers, (including by those that want to pay for
the 18" bandsaws!) I am just now looking into getting into veneering
for fun.
But I say again, you have a treasure trove for some woodturners. As a
turner, I wouldn't think twice about letting this stuff get a little
dry then mounting it up and spinning away.
Robert
If you have a lathe - and some room to store wood - every
pile of what might be wood MUST be examined and ANY
wood that MIGHT be turnable HAS to be saved - for some
future use. Having a bandsaw is also a MUST and a chainsaw,
left in your vehicle, is handy as hell. Larger wet logettes
can be damn heavy.
Acquiring spalted maple is a neener.
The drive by reference to your bandsaw is a neener.
If you'd prefaced it with Aggazzini - a big drivebt neener.
Mentioning a WoodMizer or the like would make it
a super drive by neener.
Getting the wood for free - that makes it a gloat.
Post some pics of the stuff once you've sliced and
diced it.
charlie b
Greg D. (in [email protected]) said:
| enough, 3 branches among the biggest are spalted. they're about 8"
| diameter and about 4' long. Wow!
|
| I brought them back home, splice them into 4/4 on my band saw. Yup,
| spalted maple like you cannot believe! I'll let them dry for a few
| months and will turn them into veneer when it's ready.
|
| Does this qualifies as a gloat?
Probably (mumble, mumble)...
You suck.
Nice find!
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto
On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 19:25:54 -0800, charlie b <[email protected]>
wrote:
>If you have a lathe - and some room to store wood - every
>pile of what might be wood MUST be examined and ANY
>wood that MIGHT be turnable HAS to be saved - for some
>future use. Having a bandsaw is also a MUST and a chainsaw,
>left in your vehicle, is handy as hell. Larger wet logettes
>can be damn heavy.
Now if you'd just explain that to my wife... she's been starting to
make faces when I bring home new and interesting aquisitions. Not
realizing, of course, that man must turn more than just Maple and
Willow, no matter how much of those two woods he may have.
So, is it an anti-gloat that I have an electric chainsaw, and leave a
bowsaw and axe in the car instead? :)
>Acquiring spalted maple is a neener.
Depending on the area, it's not even quite that, but if it's rare,
then it could be a full-blown gloat, like Mesquite or Redwood is
around my neck of the woods.
>Getting the wood for free - that makes it a gloat.
But does it? Free lumber is definately a gloat. Turning stock.... I
don't know. Though it's always nice to get some more, I don't recall
ever paying a cent for the stuff I have. Have to be a rare aquisition
for me to call it a gloat- even the blown-over wild cherry tree I
found didn't quite qualify, considering the sweat equity I put in
dragging that sucker out of the woods.
Seems like the gloat (probably more of a neener) part of free turning
stock comes more from the fact that most of mine comes as a result of
a day walking in the woods and getting a little enjoyable exercise.
Probably a different story if you live smack in the middle of a large
city, though.
On 6 Nov 2006 12:44:46 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
>brianlanning wrote:
>> Toller wrote:
>> > Hopefully spalted wood doesn't show the bad traits branches are know for.
>>
>> I was thinking the same thing. I bet if he cuts them into veneers, he
>> would negate the effects of reaction wood. Does spalting hold up as a
>> veneer or does it come apart at the black lines?
>>
>> > Absolutely, you suck.
>>
>> Definitly.
>>
>> brian
>
>I sure wouldn't worry about spalt on a board, even it was branch wood.
>I bought a lot of spalted maple (sold as ambrosia maple - the stuff
>created as a by product of boring beetles) as boards and it didnt' work
>or act any differntly until I went to finish it. When I put a wash
>coat (1# shellac, sprayed) on the wood, it blurred the spalt lines and
>made the clear black lining fuzzy.
>
>I would think that you would have the same problem with your veneers.
>But in my opinion, cutting it into veneers might ruin it. Branch wood
>is so unstable in some pieces that it almost isn't worth boarding in
>some species, even if you have a large piece. But veneers..... if you
>do this I think "you pays your money and you takes your chances".
>Veneer wood must be as stable as possible, and remember it will b
>exposed to a lot of moisture in the application process.
Nah. I've got spalted maple cabinets in my kitchen- they're veneered
plywood, and they look really good. The guy that made them many years
before I ever saw the place left a can of the stain under the stairs,
and it's just regular old golden oak stain with a coat of clear
varnish over it. The spalting stayed very sharp.
And I've made a thing or ten with spalted maple, myself- I'd guess
that the problem with the blurring was the alcohol in the shellac. It
doesn't happen with oil or water based finishes.