Wood type?

[Ron Mc]

I had a customer give me a copy of the March 2006 New Mexico magazine and they pointed out a picture of some pens created by an artist in New Mexico. They state that the pens are made from "Invasive salt cedar". Has anyone heard of salt cedar? My customer wants to see a pen made with it.

 

[its_virgil]

Yes Ron, It is all over up here in NW Texas...Tamarix
http://www.earlham.edu/~biol/desert/invasive.htm

http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/saltcedar.html
Want me to send you some?
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Ron Mc
<br />I had a customer give me a copy of the March 2006 New Mexico magazine and they pointed out a picture of some pens created by an artist in New Mexico. They state that the pens are made from "Invasive salt cedar". Has anyone heard of salt cedar? My customer wants to see a pen made with it.

 

[TomServo]

Don: what's it look like? maybe I could prevail upon you for a chunk?

 

[rtparso]

<b>A word of caution</b>. We have a ton of Saltcedar around here. I was going to cut up some blanks but I thought about something. Saltcedar gets it's name because of the ability of the plant to "discharge" excesses salt it uptakes as it sucks up 10s of thousands of gallons of water. It poisons the soil and if you run your fingers over the ends of it's leafs it even tastes salty. So the reason for caution is my fear that the salt will get all over my tools. That was enough to stop me.

 

[reed43]

It also grows all over the Yuma Az area. I have made several pens from this wood. Here are a couple of pictures. It was wiped with thin ca.

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[TomServo]

Ron: If you're concerned about salt on your tools, stop touching them.. there's enough salt and acid in skin oils to etch mild steel... A rinse and dry after turning "salty" wood should be sufficient to prevent any oxidation. Besides, if the plant discharges the salts, they would no longer be inside the plant. I'm really not too concerned about my $36 set of chisels.