Stabilized Found Wood x 2

[budnder]

Since I was cursed with this hobby a few months ago, I find I'm easily distracted by wood I see lying around. If I'm out for a walk, I'll pick something up and put it in a pile I started of "interesting finds" in the garage.This past week I finally got around to picking ten or so out of the pile to become pens. My process was...

- dry them out in the toaster oven for 20 hours or so
- soak them in blue green cactus juice overnight
- bake the blanks
- put them in the vacuum chamber with violet cactus juice for a couple of hours
- move the blanks over to a pressure pot at 30psi overnight
- bake the blanks again
- mark centers and turn them round to evaluate and match up a kit

Here's the first two I've completed into pens - an Art Deco kit and a Southwestern Mesa kit.

I really, really like the wood in the Southwestern kit. I think it might be cedar? It was an 1.5" wide branch that was very red in color and was surprisingly dense/hard when it dried out. Maybe not as hard as oak, but much closer to that than something like pine. I know where I got it, so I'll have to go back and have a closer look (and to get more).

These two show how varied the dying is by wood type... you can see the blue green soak didn't penetrate the Southwestern one at all.

I had an issue/defect with the plating on the cap of the Deco kit - I'm in contact with PSI to hopefully get a new cap.

 

[budnder]

Osage Orange Southwest Mesa

I dug up the branch I made the SW Mesa from and ventured back out to where I got it... looks like an Osage Orange tree to me (not Cedar). Took a photo while I was there exploring... bad news is the entire tree is dead... good news is I have a lifetime supply of Osage Orange

 

[SDB777]

Osage isn't red on the inside though....yellow to orange, if it's been in the mud for years it'll turn greenish brown.

I'm thinking Mesquite....



Doesn't matter what it is to be honest......looks freaking awesome!!! Thanks for sharing that workflow too. Most folks think the wood just follows you home and 'poof' perfect blank!




Scott (hardwood doesn't soak to well) B

 

[campzeke]

Thems purdy. With all the bakin', juicein', and vaccuumin' I thought you was gettin' ready fer company not makin' purdy pens.

 

[Edgar]

I think I'm going to have to go with Budnder on this one - that log that the pen is sitting on looks like Osage Orange to me - I haven't seen any mesquite with orange coloring in the bark like that.

Those logs that I used in Puzzle #1 were sitting on the ground for several months after I cut them off the main trunk. The cut ends were yellow to light orange when I first cut them, but they darkened to a really dark orange, & almost red in some places after lying on the ground a while in fairly damp conditions.

Here's a couple of enlargements of parts of that wood that was in my front end loader.

There sure has been a lot of Osage Orange discussion on here lately.