Redwood for blanks?

[Woodchipper]

Have lots of redwood and pondering sawing to blank sizes. I realize it is a soft wood but got the idea from a YT video with cedar blanks. Your thoughts?

 

[ed4copies]

Redwood, especially burl, can make a beautiful pen. To improve the durability, it helps to stabilize.
FWIW,
Ed

 

[GaryMGg]

If it's not burl, it's going to be pretty plain.

I don't think the suggestions will change:

Redwood blanks

 

[leehljp]

Repeating Ed: Stabilize. Straight grained plain wood of different kinds may look better in cross cut or angled cuts. Angled cuts of different woods look better with some angles, but not so much in other angles.

Since you have lots of redwood, experiment with blanks of different angles to see which looks better. And follow up with "Stabilize" it.

 

[Woodchipper]

No burl in the mix.
Next question: How to stabilize it? Have a Woodcraft store close by (actually it's too close) with Pentacryl as a stock item. Treat before turning?

 

[wolf creek knives]

For stabilizing I would suggest Cactus Juice. I've got some Redwood that I stabilized several years ago and it's still holding up.

 

[Woodchipper]

Where to get Cactus Juice?
Googled: Hmm. Found suppliers which would mean shipping. Does it require the pressure pot?

 

[JohnU]

No, not a pressure pot, a stabilizing tank and vacuum pump. It's an expensive set up but once you have everything you only need to replenish juice. You'll also need an oven to heat the wood and bring it down to zero moisture and then cook the stabilized soaked wood to harden the juice, but I would not recommend using the same oven you cook foot in. I use an electric smoker.
Here's a video on the process to give you an idea of what it involves. There are other way to do it, but this is one way.

 

[Woodchipper]

JohnU just talked me out of it. Thanks. Will find other uses for the wood.

 

[Woodchipper]

Wife made a suggestion- resaw the 2x4 pieces and make boxes. I did make a good choice that was made 54 years next Wednesday.

 

[SabertoothBunny]

I have turned sequoia (red wood) and it looks great once finished. Stabilizing would help with hardness but is not required.

 

[Woodchipper]

I'm thinking of make a blank and using the fingernail pressure test to see how badly it dents the wood.

 

[Woodchipper]

Some parts didn't dent but others didn't take a lot to dent. Back to boxes?

 

[BHuij]

I've had good success with redwood burl for pens. I almost exclusively use a CA finish for my pens, which is functionally equivalent to stabilizing the wood at the end of the day, so even un-stabilized blanks worked just fine for me. It's a beautiful wood. If you wanted to use basically any other finish, I'd suggest stabilizing the blank before turning. It really is very soft wood.

 

[Woodchipper]

Let me explain the redwood is not burl but plain ol' redwood. Not going to the expense or time to stabilize it.

 

[BHuij]

Let me explain the redwood is not burl but plain ol' redwood. Not going to the expense or time to stabilize it.

Still could look really nice, but if you're not going to stabilize it, then CA finish is, IMO, far and away the best option.