Lighter'd wood

[BeeAMaker]

Or, Heart wood, fat lighter, lighter wood, rich lighter, pine knot, lighter knot, heart pine, Fatwood, or lighter'd

Anyone ever work with it? I gotta say, it's not fun. :frown:
The chips are sticky, the pine smell is strong, but it cuts great. Sanding however is expensive because I went through several sheets of paper. The pine sap clogs the paper faster than anything - Even with the Lathe off!

This is with no polish, I simply turned the lathe up high and let the heat from the rag draw out the sap, which became a natural polish. It has cool grain patterns in the areas that are still wood, but this is at least 60% sap.

I really like how the light will shine through the thinner part, I'm not good enough yet to hollow out the bottom, so I may alter it from here. Maybe turn it into a small bowl so I can get that effect over the entire piece.

I bagged all the shavings too - I'll use them for fire starter when I go camping in the spring!

 

[mmayo]

I do plenty of dangerous things, but you may be braver than me on this one. It is stunning and shows great artistry. I use the stuff to light my fireplace, a couple of seconds with a match and you have a fire, careful on this one.

 

[BeeAMaker]

I do plenty of dangerous things, but you may be braver than me on this one. It is stunning and shows great artistry. I use the stuff to light my fireplace, a couple of seconds with a match and you have a fire, careful on this one.

So I shouldn't use it to make tea light holders? :biggrin::tongue:

I'm wondering if there is something I can coat it with to make it less "volatile"

 

[PatrickR]

Very interesting. I was unaware of this type of pine. I do know that pine sap is the source of turpentine. I have some old barn wood that was described by an old timer is "pitch pine". It has some areas that are similar. Looks a little like amber. After all this time it is still fragrant and when heated the sap runs out of it.

 

[BeeAMaker]

This is a pencil blank I turned a while back, not realizing it was this same type of wood. After I turned it, I put it in the toaster oven to draw the sap out, then back on the lathe to polish it. as it cools it gets very hard and shinny.