New dress, in an old skin...!

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robutacion

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Hi peoples,

I know, I know, the title doesn't say that, this is another one of my questions games but, it is, believe me...!

So, why the title...???
Well, the title actually suits perfectly of what I have done with an old wood, this one is local, was cut over 40 years ago by the local timber mill, old owner. I purchased 4 slabs edges and I'm almost running out of it but, before I do, I decided to play a little with it and try a few things...!

With that said, this question is divided in 3 sections, in fact, there are 3 questions to this game so, here we go...!

*- What wood species is this...???

*- How was it cut...??? (the angles, I mean...!)

*- What else did I do to it, to make it look like that...???

This is going to be interesting...! Just take a good look at the wood, the grain will put you in the right direction however, is something else on that grain, how did it got there...???

These pics are all from the same blank and the first 4 images are the blank rotated 4 times...!

Have fun...!

PS: The winner gets the normal 250gr. box, with 4 of these blanks, anywhere in the world, free of any charges...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 

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gimpy said:
1. French Oak
2. Diagonal cut
3. Stabilized

That's my final answer..lol
Click to expand...

Sorry, incorrect on 2 1/2 of the answers...!:smile:

Keep trying, I don't mind, if I only get 3 answers per post...!:wink:

PS: French-Oak...?? did you read me saying that was a local tree, that lived all those years ago in this town...???:biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
Good Lord George, what planet are you on? I am not going to even begin to guess.

Do you plan on selling any of those beauties?:biggrin:
 
carlmorrell said:
Good Lord George, what planet are you on? I am not going to even begin to guess.

Do you plan on selling any of those beauties?:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Oh, Oh...! the planet is Earth, Mount Compass in South Australia, more precisely...!:wink::biggrin:

I betcha that, you know this wood, and possibly worked with it, what we have here, is just a combination of an old slab edge that, from the 40 + years that has been cut and store in a corner, plus whatever the age that the tree reached, before it was cut down and from the same of the slabs I saw, a tree of that species at such size, will take at least the same life time expectancy of that of a humans, that die of old age.

So that is what nature gave me to work with, I just "dressed it differently and use a air cut style that, is not that advisable, to be left as that, just too fragile however, the dress was stitched on the double so, it ain't going to come undone, that easily...!

Sorry, it may look jeabrish to some of you but, is all part of the "dressing" process I gave it...!:eek::wink::biggrin:

You asked me if I will put some of these on sale, the answer is yes, I like to allow myself to introduce new "stuff" in here before I list them for sale, that gives me a little more space to play around with it and at the same time, test our members for wood species identification and also identification of some wood processing methods that can create some very interesting results, such as these. Learning is the name of the "game"...!:smile:

Cheers
George
 
Probably sheoak
A piece that came from under a branch or was not straight grained for another reason , cut at a slight bias , cactus juice stabilized , and maybe some CA for good measure
Slight darkening by controlled burning with acid
 
Looking at my current collection of wood from Australia, possible guesses:


  1. Paperbark tea tree
  2. Willowleaf
  3. Boekenhout
  4. Red Lucadendron
 
1080Wayne said:
Probably sheoak
A piece that came from under a branch or was not straight grained for another reason , cut at a slight bias , cactus juice stabilized , and maybe some CA for good measure
Slight darkening by controlled burning with acid
Click to expand...

Geezzzzz mate, and here I am thinking that, only I do strange things...!:eek::biggrin:

No, sorry, that ain't it...!

PS: Looks like "someone" on IAP, have done a very smart "search" through my new web-store, very sneaky...!:)

Cheers
George
 
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And the winner is...!

rholiday said:
Silky oak, cross cut, stabilized with dye.
Click to expand...

Very nicely done mate, short and to the point, huh...???

Congratulations, you have unfact answered the 3 part question, the only thing you didn't mention but, I know you saw it, was the blue dye coming through, ever so slightly. I dissolved some of my strong blue mix with some clear juice (about 50/50), I didn't wanted it to darken too much but hopefully, give it a blue "stain/shadow" in between the grain softer wood cells...!

That was achieved and I'm pleased with it...!

OK so, please PM me your postal details and I will get your prize on its way...!

These very same blanks will be listed on my new web-store, sometime later today, there are 3 types that I made with the same wood and cut type, the ones with less natural colours, were the ones I dyed blue, the other 2 groups are, the same blanks with good colours stabilized in clear so that the colours come through and the third group, are a few blanks that I rarely see, some areas of white soft spalting near areas, with the most vivid colours I saw on this wood.

These did benefit from the clear stabilizing, the most as the spalting was very soft/punky however, to get the best combination of effects, the cross cut was the best option but, it also make the blanks the most fragile there are so, the stabilization, either clear or dyed, served also the purpose to strengthen the wood, considerably...!

These more colourful ones, were listed yesterday, the rest will be done today + a lot more that I still have to list but, tomorrow is another day...!

Thank you for everyone's contribution on this game, something else will come out, some other day...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
rholiday said:
Thanks George, I do appreciate your generosity.
I'm going to have some fun with these!

Bob
Click to expand...

You're welcome, Bob...!

The blanks sample I used, is in fact not a full blank but one half of those that snapped before I had the chance to stabilized them, shown here without the hidden information blocked on the other pics I added to the opening thread.
003.JPG

One of the reasons why the blank looks so unusual, is due the way it was cut, from a planned area of the slab edge, from its very centre, with the sapwood running just above is a half moon shape, some wood are as not as fragile as this one, when cut that way, the first thing that some blanks do is, to curl like bananas, due to the spring forces of the grain, the wood is/was at 5%MC and very dry, the wood/logs was/were cut over 40 years ago and still, is able to move considerably so,and as I said, a number of blanks have curved, attempting to straighten them up in the various stages of stabilization, did not work.

I put some time straighten them up, after they were in the vacuum chambers for hours and then let so soak for a few more hours. At that time, the wood being so liquid saturated, allows for some flexibility, and while 90% of them did get straight(er) some did snap as soon as I tried just a little so, I decided to keep those curved ones like that, as they were all cut oversized, 23mm to be exact, and after the cooking and cleaning the extra dry juice from the wood, the blanks still shows 22 square on the measuring tape.

This will only affect those that want to use to turn a nearly full length pen blanks, contrary to some people believes/perceptions, these sort of curvatures are 95% eliminated simply by cutting the blank in half, as soon as it is cut into 2 pieces, the slight curvature means nothing, particularly with blanks 22mm square...!

I have 3 packs of 4 blanks of these curved ones 024.JPG and a couple packs of shorts that I shouldn't have had 035 (4).JPG 036 (4).JPG, they were all done the same way however, something that less informed pen turners may see useless to them, when I know that would be incorrect from the reasons already explained so, one of these curved packs is what is going to be sent to Bob, the winner of my last questions game, the rest will be listed on my new web-store but, I'm offering a further 5% discount to the 10% I have at the moment.

Please be aware that, this 15% does only apply to the 3 curved packs left and the 2 packs of shorts, shown here. So that you can use the appropriate 15% discount code, I have created the code for this offer, only and it is IAP15%offer

Thank you...!

PS: All these packs are 250gr. so it will require only a AU$9.00 shipping charge, and I have the link to the store listing, here

Cheers
George
 
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rholiday said:
George,

I received the blanks, they are beautiful!!
Love your contests!

Once again, thanks!

Bob
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

Thanks for letting me know of the parcel arrival...!

Glad you like them, the rest now is up to you, I look forwards to see a pen made with it...!

PS: The Huon Pine burl short, was all I could squeeze and stay within the require weigh limit, it will make a nice single barrel type pen...!:wink:

Cheers
George
 
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