Who just posted about TX Mt. Laurel

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phillywood

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Some one recently posted about some Pen they have made form TX Mt. laurel. I tried to search it under that name and search showed no result. i f you are the one who posted it can you PM me please? I need to ask few Qsn.s about how to prepare it. I had to take down half of my Mt. Laurel tree so I saved some logs and thick branches, but I am not too sure how to make it to splat and or prepare it for pen blanks. Any one with the info who can help is appreciated.
this is a personal request for my personal use and has nothing to do with gathering information for the wood chart.
Thanks for looking.
 
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el_d

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The one I had I split the log down the middle and cut out the blanks a bit "oversized" to allow drying and warping. Mine was already "dry" so I didnt have too much movement from the wood. The crotches are the nicest pieces of the branch so take that into consideration when cutting and the rootball has the best figure. My limitation was the size of my band saw.:wink:
 

MesquiteMan

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Phillip,

I am the one who discovered Mescalbean (also known as Tx Mt. Laurel) for penturning, at least here on IAP. I have cut hundreds and hundreds of pen blanks out of it and as a matter of fact, Mescalbean was one of the primary reasons I created "Worthless Wood". The wood I was cutting was way too beautiful to throw away but the yield of good, complete pen blanks was VERY LOW compared to how many I cut.

A little info...the sap wood will disintegrate very quickly. Bugs love it and it will basically become punky in no time. The heart wood, where all the color is, will NOT spalt. As a matter of fact, it takes is a VERY LONG TIME to rot. Mescalbean is an ironwood since its specific gravity is greater than 1 and it will not float.

It is extremely dense and fun to turn. It also splits and checks really bad so if you do cut it, cut it oversized and make sure there is no pith in the blank. Then let it dry as slowly as possible. The branches will not yield very pretty blanks but they are not bad.
 

phillywood

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Ok, these logs are not that really big and then some were branches. I try to post pic. tomorrow then you guys look at it and tell me if it's worth it to do anything to them or not. which one of you had then pen posted like about two or three weeks ago and i tried to search for the blank name and the search keep saying no record, Unless I am spelling it wrong? I put TX Mt. Laurel, and Texas Mt. laurel and tx mt. luarel. Nothing pops up unless I am not searching it right? Any idea how to find that pen again?
 
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phillywood

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Phillip,

I am the one who discovered Mescalbean (also known as Tx Mt. Laurel) for penturning, at least here on IAP. I have cut hundreds and hundreds of pen blanks out of it and as a matter of fact, Mescalbean was one of the primary reasons I created "Worthless Wood". The wood I was cutting was way too beautiful to throw away but the yield of good, complete pen blanks was VERY LOW compared to how many I cut.

A little info...the sap wood will disintegrate very quickly. Bugs love it and it will basically become punky in no time. The heart wood, where all the color is, will NOT spalt. As a matter of fact, it takes is a VERY LONG TIME to rot. Mescalbean is an ironwood since its specific gravity is greater than 1 and it will not float.

It is extremely dense and fun to turn. It also splits and checks really bad so if you do cut it, cut it oversized and make sure there is no pith in the blank. Then let it dry as slowly as possible. The branches will not yield very pretty blanks but they are not bad.

curtis, can you look at the pic tomorrwo when you have time and tell me or draw where exactly would be considered Pith? I am not sure if I understand exactly how much of the center of the wood is considered pith. these are not any where close to theh daimeter to what you cut on your milling machine last time. i ahd to cut these branches away since they were rubbing on the house and didn't want to have more damage and then the other tree that fell over the house was keeping it from getting good amount of sun to grow.
Afte ryousee the pic. you can tell me if I shoud fool with it or just thow it away.
thank you.
 

phillywood

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Dont know Phillip,
I haven't posted a Mt laurel pen. Try searching "laurel" or "Mescalbean"
Ok, thanks I will. What made me save those branches was that pen. After i saw it then i thought I got nothing to lose to save those branches. Then, I also have the hackberry that I have whole bunch of them and I already stacked them,but was trying to learn how to spalt them before I cut them. I add that pic. too.
Thanks Lupe.
 

MesquiteMan

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I would be happy to look at the pic, Phillip. Here is a pic of a Mescalbean pen I made a while back. Not the one you are looking for but an idea nonetheless. BTW, Mescalbean is the traditional Native American name for what you are calling Tx. Mountain Laurel. I refuse to call it Texas Mt. Laurel since it is not a laurel and is not even related at all to a laurel other than both are trees! I guess some settlers thought it looked like a laurel from somewhere and gave it that name years ago. BTW, the beans from the Mescalbean are VERY toxic. One bean will kill a grown man. It was used by the Native Americans as a hallucinogenic and is considered the predecessor to Peyote cactus!

MescalGent3-15-600-400-70.jpg
 

phillywood

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I would be happy to look at the pic, Phillip. Here is a pic of a Mescalbean pen I made a while back. Not the one you are looking for but an idea nonetheless. BTW, Mescalbean is the traditional Native American name for what you are calling TX. Mountain Laurel. I refuse to call it Texas Mt. Laurel since it is not a laurel and is not even related at all to a laurel other than both are trees! I guess some settlers thought it looked like a laurel from somewhere and gave it that name years ago. BTW, the beans from the Mescalbean are VERY toxic. One bean will kill a grown man. It was used by the Native Americans as a hallucinogenic and is considered the predecessor to Peyote cactus!
Curtis, what tag did you have your pen under? is that why it wouldn't show up on the search, because i searched under Mt. laurel?
BTW, I was going to ask you about the Toxicity. After you typed the Mescal bean, I went and looked it up and then got all confused since there is reference to some cactus to and I couldn't understand that how a tree and the cactus were relevant. then I read about the toxicity of it and wondered the darn berries or the fruit are always all over he ground around the tree and few times I had to get them out my dog's mouth when they are out there in the front with me. So they are poisonous, how about if you touch them?
BTW, that's the pen I was looking for, didn't you post that like three weeks or so ago, because someone has sent me a blank and it's written on it TX Mt. laurel and blank looks cool that's when I decided well I am cutting my tree so I may as well save them. I post the pic.s in a little while.
Thank you for replying. And, your pen looks very nice and nicely crafted. I hope I can make one as close to yours someday.
 

MesquiteMan

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Phillip,

That pen was posted a couple of years ago so it must have been a different one you saw.

As for toxicity...the beans have such a hard shell that you really need a hammer to break them open. As long as they are not open, they are benign. You could actually swallow one and as long as the shell was not broken, it would not effect you. And there is not correlation to Mescal, which is an alcoholic drink made from agave that is basically tequila except that tequila is made only from blue agave.
 

phillywood

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here are the pics:
descrp. from left to right:
Hackberry Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped sep. 10, 2010
Hackberry Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped sep. 10, 2010 close look
Hackberry Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped sep. 10, 2010,whole
Mesquite Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped Feb. 10, 2010
Mesquite Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped Feb. 10, 2010,attempt to cut
Mesquite Cut in Feb. 2010, chopped Feb. 10, 2010,halved
Mt. Laurel Lot#,1, Pic.1, #1--6, sizes 1 1/2x7- 1 3/4x9- 2x7 1/2- 2 1/2x9- 2 1/2x2x9 1/4- 2 1/4x6 1/2
 

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MesquiteMan

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Phillip,

Your first few pics are NOT hackberry. They look much more like Tx Elm to be. The color of the wood is wrong and so it the bark. Hackberry is white to gray and they bark is way different then that. If I saw a close up, I could tell you for sure if it was Tx Elm or some other native central Texas tree. I know all of my native central Texas trees VERY well.

The mescalbean will make descent pen blanks but nothing spectacular. The grain will be straight without a lot of character other than some nice color. Still worth messing with, just do not get your hopes up too high.
 

phillywood

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Phillip,

Your first few pics are NOT hackberry. They look much more like TX Elm to be. The color of the wood is wrong and so it the bark. Hackberry is white to gray and they bark is way different then that. If I saw a close up, I could tell you for sure if it was TX Elm or some other native central Texas tree. I know all of my native central Texas trees VERY well.

The mescalbean will make descent pen blanks but nothing spectacular. The grain will be straight without a lot of character other than some nice color. Still worth messing with, just do not get your hopes up too high.
OK, on the Hackberry or TX elm I'll take a better pic. all I can remember is that when fall comes and gets little cold it's leaf are very messy and turn brown and are all over the back yard. I try to see if i can take a pic. of the tree since it's so tall.
As for the mescalbean, would the thickest log that i mentioned above make it if I cut it in an angle to the grain to make the orientation of the grain little more interesting?

Now, as I remember when You demoed that Mesquite log at your shop you took the whole log and then You started slicing it from the top by 4" thick right? I don't have the milling machine so right now the only thing I have is the long 12" long Diablo recopro. blade and my band saw is a 10" craftsman, so in the pic #5, I started to cut it near the center is that a correct cut so it won't check or split, or am I not looking at the pith right and am I understanding the concept of cutting around the pith correctly?
 
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