Advice on some fresh wood I have

[wabbitpoo]

Just about to acquire freshly-felled holly and also some big pieces from a large laurel, all from a garden I am working on. Do they make for good turning material? Sould it be turned green or dried first?

 

[Paul.J]

Heres some info on Laurel.
Holly i think is a beautiful wood to turn,but believe it is very difficult to dry successfuly.Might be worth turning some green and put the rest to dry.

 

[cornucopia]

i have no experince of laurel but i have allot with holly.
holly is lovely to turn but thats where the lovely comments run out i'm afraid its a pain to store in branch form cracking on its ends and down its sides whether its sealed or not.
to turn it green it must be a consistent 1/8" thick or whatever you turn will crack, i have tried rough turning- but all failed. when i do turn with it i get a 50-50- success rate.
i'm not trying to put you off these are just my experinces with it over the years, its worth turning and experimenting with but dont expect too much of it.

 

[greybeard]

I found laurel just as quoted from Oldsoke, close-grained and technically very rewarding to work. It's - IMHO! - not quite in the same class as box but I found I could get a really crisp finish relatively easily.

In that funny way that nature has of balancing things, like box!, the grain tends to be plain. Or at least the bits I've turned were.
Another garden-type tree/shrub with a similar quality of closeness/density is Chinese Privet (no, I'd never heard of it before either, a friendly tree-surgeon put me onto it).

I turned the laurel green as well as managing to leave some for 18 months or so - and was well pleased with both. It was only garden trimmings, about 8" max diam and mostly quite a bit thinner.

 

[PowerTool]

I've had reasonable success drying holly left "in the round".Seem to have had more splits from larger sections that have been cut,split and sealed.
Drying timber is always a bit of a lottery - you can't always tell what is going to happen,and how much usable timber you are going to get.

(Apart from cherry,which ALWAYS seems to be a right pig.. )

Andrew

 

[Wanlock Dod]

For the holly I'd be inclined to cut it up as best you can (split all logs down the middle at least) and put it aside to dry. You might have a fair bit of wastage through cracking and splitting by the time it's dry enought to turn, but you won't have invested too much effort in making firewood. Or alternatively just chuck them on the ground at the back of the garden and do the above in a couple of years time. I've been working my way through a stash of holly that had lain in a neighbours garden for a couple of years and is looking pretty good.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[big soft moose]

with laurel - be aware that the dust and sap is extremly toxic (containing cyanide compounds) - you will need a face mask/dust mask and/or decent dust extraction

 

[Scrums]

Not much help with how to dry Holly - though I've not had many problems with splitting, mostly problems with discolouration.

Just a gloat really, to say that I've found a woodyard with half a dozen 12" wide x 1" thick boards - bone dry, and I hope they're still there in 10 days time......and no, I'm not saying where...

Chris.

 

[PAC]

Just a gloat really, to say that I've found a woodyard with half a dozen 12" wide x 1" thick boards - bone dry, and I hope they're still there in 10 days time......and no, I'm not saying where...

Chris.

Hi Chris,

From one Lancastrian to another, maybe we should join forces in our efforts to find timber? :wink:

 

[big soft moose]

Just a gloat really, to say that I've found a woodyard with half a dozen 12" wide x 1" thick boards - bone dry, and I hope they're still there in 10 days time......and no, I'm not saying where...

Chris.

If we are going to start gloating - ive just found out that ive got to clear a fallen cherry / crab apple this weekend wich is about 24" in dia and arround 20 yards long - an no i'm not saying where.

(the best bit is that I will be getting paid for carrying out the clearance)

PAC - I can possibly bring you a bit of this when i come up to heysham next if you are interested

 

[PAC]

PAC - I can possibly bring you a bit of this when i come up to heysham next if you are interested

Yes please! I LOVE cherry!

 

[PAC]

Just came across this interesting site:

http://www.customwooddesign.com/turninggreenwood-1.html

explaining how to deal with green logs.

 

[cornucopia]

this link above enrages me :twisted: absolutley no protection at all, using a chainsaw is extremley dangerous and to wear trainers is just brain deadly stupid, no gloves or chainsaw trousers, standing in the line of fire!!!
it might be a good article about green wood but please be carfull with chainsaws and do not do as the person pictured has done.

 

[PAC]

I see what you mean... :roll:

 

[PAC]

Another interesting link:

http://www.peterchild.co.uk/info1/green.htm

 

[big soft moose]

this link above enrages me :twisted: absolutley no protection at all, using a chainsaw is extremley dangerous and to wear trainers is just brain deadly stupid, no gloves or chainsaw trousers, standing in the line of fire!!!
it might be a good article about green wood but please be carfull with chainsaws and do not do as the person pictured has done.

I totally agree - to work like that yourself is cretinous but to recomend that others do is beyond beleif - mind you a lot of people do because a good set of chainsaw PPE can cost more than the saw. To those people I'd ask "how much are your legs worth"

see here for advice on chainsaw PPE http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/afag301.pdf

and here for illustration of why not wearing to save money it is a bad idea (Gore warning) http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... n%26sa%3DG

 

[user 5053]

Holly is a very nice turning wood as are most evergreen timbers. It depends what you want to do with it. You could rough it out straight away for most things. It has a wonderful smell as well.