robutacion
Member
Hi peoples,
Almond tree wood is something that this area is not short of, nor am I but, old trees that are still usable for turning and not firewood, are not so easy to get but, in amongst all the trees around, the chances are I will get a old one to remove, every so often...!
This one was half dead from termites and not producing much any more so was time to do and I was lucky that I got the cutting of it. There is only one thing that makes removal and then processing of these old back yard trees an absolute pain in the a$$ and that is the various metal objects embedded and forced into the wood as it grow, and you wouldn't believe what I find in them, at times, most of which destroy chainsaw chains and bandsaw blades.
After the logs are sliced up, then is easier to find those metal bits, either because the chain or bandsaw already went through them, making it easier to spot or, found my the metal detector. Using the metal detector at the tree location, doesn't help much as the tree has to be cut at certain distance from the ground and if you really want the wood, you certainly want to cut as low as possible as the first 1' from the roots are normally where most of the crazy grain and colours are found so, you take the "punt" and cut it where you want to cut it regardless if you get "sparks" coming out of the cut or not.
Often, I run the metal detector at home on the uncut/unprocessed logs and I get a positive reaction from the detector but, the signal can come from very deep within the log, making it very difficult to void damaging the bandsaw blade as you endup find it when you least expect, particularly if it is a long nail, screw, or a metal rod...!
Anyway, and as they say, "if you want fish, got get your feet in the water...!" so, I get some really nice chunks out of these old Almond trees that sometimes, I can't let go, apart from taking them to my Nova 1624-44 lathe and take it for a spin...! Urge sort of thing....:wink:
No, pre-design or idea of what I want to do, mount it in the chuck and turn the lathe on...! Amazing how "shapes" change when the wood is spinning at velocity and how all of a certain a specific shape starts to form by the time you cleaned the chunk a little bit. From there on, is only a matter of "following" the wood...! sort of speak, but true.
I didn't wanted to use any "fillings" on it, the cracks where already there before I started and probably will increase slightly as the old tree was only cut about 1 year ago and the log was unprocessed until the day I turned it so, and knowing how minded/temperamental this wood is/can be, anything is possible however, the heartwood of it was what got my attention, the grain and colours are nothing short of spectacular, to me anyway...!
I'm not sure what to call to this piece and is certainly not that important, the wife claimed it straight away and is already displayed in the house...!
Oh...,these urges of mine...!:bananen_smilies104:
Hope you like it...!
Cheers
George
Almond tree wood is something that this area is not short of, nor am I but, old trees that are still usable for turning and not firewood, are not so easy to get but, in amongst all the trees around, the chances are I will get a old one to remove, every so often...!
This one was half dead from termites and not producing much any more so was time to do and I was lucky that I got the cutting of it. There is only one thing that makes removal and then processing of these old back yard trees an absolute pain in the a$$ and that is the various metal objects embedded and forced into the wood as it grow, and you wouldn't believe what I find in them, at times, most of which destroy chainsaw chains and bandsaw blades.
After the logs are sliced up, then is easier to find those metal bits, either because the chain or bandsaw already went through them, making it easier to spot or, found my the metal detector. Using the metal detector at the tree location, doesn't help much as the tree has to be cut at certain distance from the ground and if you really want the wood, you certainly want to cut as low as possible as the first 1' from the roots are normally where most of the crazy grain and colours are found so, you take the "punt" and cut it where you want to cut it regardless if you get "sparks" coming out of the cut or not.
Often, I run the metal detector at home on the uncut/unprocessed logs and I get a positive reaction from the detector but, the signal can come from very deep within the log, making it very difficult to void damaging the bandsaw blade as you endup find it when you least expect, particularly if it is a long nail, screw, or a metal rod...!
Anyway, and as they say, "if you want fish, got get your feet in the water...!" so, I get some really nice chunks out of these old Almond trees that sometimes, I can't let go, apart from taking them to my Nova 1624-44 lathe and take it for a spin...! Urge sort of thing....:wink:
No, pre-design or idea of what I want to do, mount it in the chuck and turn the lathe on...! Amazing how "shapes" change when the wood is spinning at velocity and how all of a certain a specific shape starts to form by the time you cleaned the chunk a little bit. From there on, is only a matter of "following" the wood...! sort of speak, but true.
I didn't wanted to use any "fillings" on it, the cracks where already there before I started and probably will increase slightly as the old tree was only cut about 1 year ago and the log was unprocessed until the day I turned it so, and knowing how minded/temperamental this wood is/can be, anything is possible however, the heartwood of it was what got my attention, the grain and colours are nothing short of spectacular, to me anyway...!
I'm not sure what to call to this piece and is certainly not that important, the wife claimed it straight away and is already displayed in the house...!
Oh...,these urges of mine...!:bananen_smilies104:
Hope you like it...!
Cheers
George
