woodshop

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Well, let's see...

Without enlarging the picture I can tell that the grain is tight and wavy. This implies to me that it is from a tree of relativelty small stature. Also we can tell from the photo that the wood color is light (yellowish; potentially softwood?). It's safe to assume that the tree likes riparian zones as it is a burl.

With all that in mind, I'll posit a few guesses:
-willow
-red alder
-doug fir (simply because it is so common there)

Right on cue Freezy! Mmmm...burls only riparian you say? Nobody told the tree I cut this burl from, as it was growing on a slope in the Willamette valley. The tree was doomed by developers cutting in a new subdivision, and while I couldn't save the whole tree, I did rescue some of the wood. What kind of wood you say? Why, Acer macrophyllum, variously known as Big-leaf Maple, Oregon Maple, or Broadleaf Maple.

The appearence of grain exposed by a cut in wood is dependent on the orientation of the cut. For this piece of Maple burl, the cuts perpendicular to the wild surface under the bark give the grain pattern referred to as 'tiger' or 'fiddle-back', whereas cuts paralell to the surface yield 'birds-eye' grain pattern.

Because I cut the piece green, I nailed a chain to it and sunk it in a pond for a year to keep it from splitting & checking. This procedure keeps water in the cells so they don't collapse as they cure; once cured, the wood is taken out of the water and air-dried. A quicker method some use is to immerse the wood in PEG, polyethyline glycol, but that's expensive and a chemical mess.

So, I'll get another wood sample for us later today, an even more exotic PNW burl from a tree seldom used by woodworkers. I came, I saw, I sawed.

[Turtle]

Mystery burl wood #2. This is an unfinished project I started ~25 years ago ; I think it's a cribbage board. The edge pieces are Oak. The colors are not 'true' partly because these bits of wood have been sitting around for so long, & the fluorescent light I'm using is not full-spectrum. What's a woody to due? ................

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Right on cue Freezy! Mmmm...burls only riparian you say? Nobody told the tree I cut this burl from, as it was growing on a slope in the Willamette valley.

I was actually thinking of something else when I wrote that.
You are correct, no validity in my claim.

The tree was doomed by developers cutting in a new subdivision, and while I couldn't save the whole tree, I did rescue some of the wood. What kind of wood you say? Why, Acer macrophyllum, variously known as Big-leaf Maple, Oregon Maple, or Broadleaf Maple.

That was my first guess until I got riparian in my head.

The appearence of grain exposed by a cut in wood is dependent on the orientation of the cut. For this piece of Maple burl, the cuts perpendicular to the wild surface under the bark give the grain pattern referred to as 'tiger' or 'fiddle-back', whereas cuts paralell to the surface yield 'birds-eye' grain pattern.

Interesting...
What if you cut it at a "diagonal"?

Because I cut the piece green, I nailed a chain to it and sunk it in a pond for a year to keep it from splitting & checking. This procedure keeps water in the cells so they don't collapse as they cure; once cured, the wood is taken out of the water and air-dried. A quicker method some use is to immerse the wood in PEG, polyethyline glycol, but that's expensive and a chemical mess.

Do all woods take a year to cure with this method? Does the wood ever have a tendency to rot before it is cured?

[/quote]So, I'll get another wood sample for us later today, an even more exotic PNW burl from a tree seldom used by woodworkers. I came, I saw, I sawed. [/QUOTE]

Did you find it by a river?

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Mystery burl wood #2. This is an unfinished project I started ~25 years ago ; I think it's a cribbage board. The edge pieces are Oak. The colors are not 'true' partly because these bits of wood have been sitting around for so long, & the fluorescent light I'm using is not full-spectrum. What's a woody to due? ................

What IS one to dew?

Let's see, this one is way more difficult...

I honestly can't tell much from the grain so I'll go on your hints alone: it's from PNW and it's a rarity in woodworking.

Is it douglas fir?

(slightly unrelated question for you , have you ever driven up 101 towards Port Angeles and seen the chainsaw art prominently displayed in someone's front yard just to the west of 101. There's probably 50 or so pieces that sit out in the yard. Some of them are quite impressive!)

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Interesting...
What if you cut it at a "diagonal"?

Something of a combination I suppose; bird's back tiger fiddle? Fiddle eye tiger bird?

Originally Posted by Freizetar

Do all woods take a year to cure with this method? Does the wood ever have a tendency to rot before it is cured?

More or less a year. Of those burls I tried this with I waited a year and they were 'done'. Partly I didn't want to take them out too soon and find it was all for naught, and partly because the pond was snowed in during the Winter.

Originally Posted by Freewood

Let's see, this one is way more difficult...

I honestly can't tell much from the grain so I'll go on your hints alone: it's from PNW and it's a rarity in woodworking.

Is it douglas fir?

Doug Fir is widely employed in woodworking. Used in plywood, dimensional construction material, and millwork to name a few.

Originally Posted by Freedriver

(slightly unrelated question for you , have you ever driven up 101 towards Port Angeles and seen the chainsaw art prominently displayed in someone's front yard just to the west of 101. There's probably 50 or so pieces that sit out in the yard. Some of them are quite impressive!)

I have driven that road & the scene sounds familiar; I used to go up to kite retreats at Fort Warden that way.

Here's what C.P. Lyons writing in Trees & Shrubs of Washington says about mystery wood #2.

Originally Posted by C.P.Lyons

The wood, with its outward promise of something very desirable, fails to be so. Although workable when green, it dries to become a hard, brittle wood of little commercial value

Since Doug is unlikely to know this regional wood, I'll reveal that it is Arbutus menziesii, or as we call it hereabouts, Madrone. I air dried this burl, and it continued warping for years; I seem to now recall having the frame complete at one time, but the Madrone burl panel warped and broke open the joints. Anyway, that's another cut from the Turtle's corner.

[Turtle]

Mystery burl wood #3. The original burl has a hoary story, weighed 50+ pounds, and got the pond treatment. No trees died in its collection.

[DougF]

Well you got me on mystery wood #2,
Don't recall hearing the name before, but I have seen that red papery bark of this tree before.

as to mystery wood #3,
the wood grain looks like a Oak of some kind.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by DougF

Well you got me on mystery wood #2,
Don't recall hearing the name before, but I have seen that red papery bark of this tree before.

as to mystery wood #3,
the wood grain looks like a Oak of some kind.

Roger & Roger That is to say, I thought #2 might be a stumper, and #3 is Oak. Garry Oak I suspect; Quercus garryana. Good call.

Meantime, the work on the combination plane is going well. The irons are still soaking in oil and there's a lot of work to get them all back to working condition, but I have the main frame, the bars, the sliding skate, and the fence cleaned up and tuned. On removing the spurs (one on the main frame, one on the sliding skate) I found that only one lobe of each was ever sharpened, and those lobes are now worn back so they don't extend past the fence. I prefer to sharpen only the leading edge, as this leaves more metal in support behind, and since the spur is not reversable and one doesn't drag the plane backwards to cut with an iron in place, sharpening all around a lobe is rather useless in my view.

That's all I got.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Turtle

... On removing the spurs (one on the main frame, one on the sliding skate) I found that only one lobe of each was ever sharpened, and those lobes are now worn back so they don't extend past the fence. I prefer to sharpen only the leading edge, as this leaves more metal in support behind, and since the spur is not reversable and one doesn't drag the plane backwards to cut with an iron in place, sharpening all around a lobe is rather useless in my view.

In this short film, I remove, sharpen, & reinstall the spur cutter on the main frame of the Stanley 45 combination plane.

YouTube - Stanley 45 - spur cutter

[Turtle]

Any pleasure in anticipating using the Stanley 45 combination plane is thouroughly and completely sucked desert dry and blown away by the cleaning of it. Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath.

Then there is the wood! Good grief and oh bother to that burden too. Worse than a damn booger on a finger. Fuel for thought and the rocket stove. I honestly thought that years ago I already burned the pieces pictured below; what's left of building only one of a pair of Bible stands. Can you say "uncompleted project?" Call them mystery wood #4 if you must...I call it firewood. .........