Hello, some friends of mine had a fig tree that didn't bloom this year. New trunks sprouted from the roots and they cut down the old growth. The limbs were straight and a few inches thick. They gave me a pile. I cut the wood to manageable sizes and waxed the ends. I read that the sap can be an irritant. Has anyone turned fig? Anything I should know?
Well, Fig wood is perfectly turnable when dry, as any other wood. The wood will be always soft with a single colour throughout, (a light yellow), with the case of the shoots they you've got.
If I understand it correctly, what they gave you are the old straight "water shoots" that grow from the root at soil level, right...???
These are not as good as the Fig tree trunk or larger limbs close to the trunk, water shoots are extremely fast growing sprouts without a cell composition as tight, stable and strong as the main tree they grow from, the only exception I know of this root sprouts or water shoots, is the Wild Olive wood.
These grow only after the tree has been cut, the root can be covered with soil for years and then one day, the water shoots start growing all around the edge of the tree bark.
Let to grow wildly, the stronger shoots will kill the weaker ones and therefore, they grow twice as fast, to a maximum known diameter of 6" to 7" that will take 10 or more years to develop, and living for as long time after that...!
Sorry about that, I was suppose to be talking about the fig wood, or in this case the wood from the water shoots...!
These water shoots won't produce as much white sap as the main tree, particularly when the figs are growing however, I would certainly be careful and avoid touching you eyes with your unclean hands, it will burn like hell so, if you get caught with some, wash the affected eye with some running water, it will come good, afterwards...!
Now, if you want to use this wood, be aware that, many sort of bugs will attack it and eat the hell out off so, I would process what I wanted from it, spray some insecticide on it and put it to dry in a water protected area. It will dry quite fast so, you will have usable blanks in no time.
This is one of the wood where due to its lack of colours, you can dye and or stabilize when dry, if you want it to spalt, dig a hole in the dirt and burry the logs/limbs/shoots for at least 6 months, making sure you maintain the area with some water, every so often...!
I'm working with some fig wood, at the moment, I'm processing the main trunk that has been in the weather for about 1 year, the cracking and spalting made it useless to get full size clean pen blanks out of it (only a few) and the rest shown ideal properties for casting, and that is what I'm doing, with all wood stabilized (pic attached) and the first batch of 24 blanks cast with yellow and black carbon, they are finished but not yet photographed...!
If you could show us some pics of what you've got, it always helps with the advice...!
Cheers
George
