Cork and Hemlock wood

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GregMuller

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Has anyone used either of these two woods to turn pens. My partner has a place upstate and has some of this wood available. If you have please share some tips with me. He is bringing back some pieces and expects some pens. [?]
 
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its_virgil

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You might do a search of yahoo penturners (we have a very fast search of their archives on our homepage) because there was a thread not long ago about turning cork. I was not interested so I did not read it but it may have some helpful info.
do a good turn dailly!
don
Originally posted by GregMuller
<br />Has anyone used either of these two woods to turn pens. My partner has a place upstate and has some of this wood available. If you have please share some tips with me. He is bringing back some pieces and expects some pens. [?]
 

dmadis

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Hemlock might be toxic enough to use special precautions, especially breathing the dust. Do a search on Google for wood toxicity. Don't want to end up like Socrates. 8:(

Darrell
 

dougle40

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Darrell,
I think that Greg might be talking about , either , Eastern or Western Hemlock not "Poison Hemlock" which is actually more of a weed . Both Eastern and Western Hemlock are used for making various products such as doors , windows , staircases etc.
 

William Young

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Wynndel, British Columbia, Canada.
I dont know anything about cork but with the hemlock you could run into a little problem with the alternating soft and harder grain pattern between the anual rings that may show up when sanding. I had that problem when turning a bowl with hemlock. Give a try though . It may vary from piece to piece and the light / dark grain pattern may look nice on a pen .
W.Y.
 

djborek

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From what I know about Cork wood it grows in several places around the world. The Cork Wood I have in stock is AKA Ivory Needlewood, from the oak family group is from Australia and should be purchased dry. This is very nice wood to work. As for the Hemlock, I know of this wood because I spent 12 years in the Seattle area and it’s largely used wood for millwork Hemlock, and SPF, Spruce, Pine, & Fur. Hemlock is a tight grained wood and it’s a good wood to machine but has some brittle issues that can blow out millwork. This is some technical information for you that I coppied from the web.

The Western Hemlock
The Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla; also known as the West Coast Hemlock) is a softwood tree found primarily on the Pacific Coast from Alaska south to western Canada and into central California. Some trees grow as far east as Idaho and Montana. This tree is one of Canada's most valuable timbers. Western hemlock wood is white to light yellow-brown in color, with the late-wood portion of the ring frequently displaying a roseate, purple, or red-brown tinge. The heartwood is not distinct, but the last few rings near the bark are almost white.

A member of the pine family (Pinaceae), hemlocks are beautiful evergreen trees that have about 10 individual species. These trees are excellent screen and background plants and have a delicate foliage with numerous fan-like leafs. Hemlocks do not grow well in dry summer air, in dry or alkaline soils, or in areas that receive a significant amount of wind. They should be planted in eastern exposures, generously mulched, and irrigated regularly.
Western Hemlock wood is used for paneling, boxes, crates (generally the type requiring rather thick boards because of the woods' tendency to split upon nailing), railroad car construction, general construction, and mill products. The wood was formerly used for sugar and flour barrels (because of freedom from resinous materials, the absence of taste, and its clear color), and for ladder rails.
Microscopic examination of iron-alum hematoxylin and safranin stained thin sections (see the digital images presented above) reveals a more gradual transition from spring to summer wood than is observed in other species of this group. The rings are generally narrow and even with occasional longitudinal strands of resin cells. Tracheids average 30 to 40 micrometers in diameter, and bordered pits occur in one to two rows on the radial walls. Longitudinal parenchyma is very sparse or lacking, and the rays are uniseriate or rarely paired.

Could not locate very much on the other wood you were seeking.

David J. Borek
EarlOfBurl@Blankity-Blanks.com
http://www.Blankity-blanks.com
 

Daniel

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Bruce,
ROFLMAO
with descoveries like that could it be your cork is gettin taken out of your bottle a little to often :)
 

dougle40

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Essex, Ontario, Canada.
I was able to find this info about Cork Oak on the web . Hope it helps someone .
The cork-oak wood is an oak wood with a strong aesthetic character, with high density and mechanical resistance which may potentially be used for high value products, e.g. flooring, paneling or furniture, and substitute imported tropical species. Apart from the stem sanitary conditions and the resulting poor quality wood, other factors have jeopardized its use and the few cases of industrial processing: the complex anatomy of the wood and the lack of knowledge of its properties led to frequent cracking and collapse during drying, resulting in poor yields in sawn components and economic unfeasibility.

20041285831_Cork%20Oak%20sm.jpg
<br />
Tree with bark removed .

20041285850_Branch-Cross-Section-3%20sm.jpg
<br />
Cross section of a limb.
 
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