patmurris
Member
I know this not to be done and one should take the time for the wood to naturally dry and relax... but what the cat... sometime i just can't wait to try out a new timber. 
The other day i saw the local gardener unloading fresh logs from his truck and i stopped by - he knows why. As usual he showed me he's 'catch of the day' and told me i could take whatever i wanted... There where some very nice spalted privets bits that instantly caught my eye and indeed, in the car trunk they went. :biggrin:
Hand cut a small blanks across a very colored log, microwaved it... bending checking then large splits through the spongious parts... While assessing the damage i managed to break it in two... Poured some CA and clamped it on the lathe overnight... The next day i 'stabilized' the thing with more CA, drilled, poured CA into the hole, filled, glued the tube, turned (with more CA in the process) and applied the CA finish. The next day i finally polished and buffed the finish and voila!
The spalted privet (Ligustrum) logs:
The pen turned with a crosscut section:
For what i know, privet is a rather small shrub or tree... this one must have been very old. Can't wait to have access to a decent band saw to cut more of the stuff... :wink:

The other day i saw the local gardener unloading fresh logs from his truck and i stopped by - he knows why. As usual he showed me he's 'catch of the day' and told me i could take whatever i wanted... There where some very nice spalted privets bits that instantly caught my eye and indeed, in the car trunk they went. :biggrin:
Hand cut a small blanks across a very colored log, microwaved it... bending checking then large splits through the spongious parts... While assessing the damage i managed to break it in two... Poured some CA and clamped it on the lathe overnight... The next day i 'stabilized' the thing with more CA, drilled, poured CA into the hole, filled, glued the tube, turned (with more CA in the process) and applied the CA finish. The next day i finally polished and buffed the finish and voila!
The spalted privet (Ligustrum) logs:

The pen turned with a crosscut section:


For what i know, privet is a rather small shrub or tree... this one must have been very old. Can't wait to have access to a decent band saw to cut more of the stuff... :wink: