What best should I do with wood from a large holly tree

[okeydokey]

Its about 8 inches diameter straight and growing well - its coming down with some fir trees and a hazel as an area is being cleared.
I'm sure the tree surgeons will cut some rounds or rounds cut in half if I ask.

 

[niall Y]

The trouble with Holly is keeping it white and not letting it stain. The really white stuff seems to come from America, where they have a better understanding of how to preserve the colour. I believe this relies on it being cut during the winter when the sap is low, and being kilned straight away.

 

[Rhossydd]

It's wonderful to turn wet. Then moves in interesting ways as it dries.

 

[Stigmorgan]

I like Holly but as said keeping it white is hard, the trick appears to be storing it upright and drying it quickly but you do lose a lot to cracking. I've not turned Hazel so don't have an opinion on that

 

[John Brown]

I had a piece I was hoping to make a cribbage board out of, but the cracks spread so far that there wasn't enough good timber. I eventually made a small bandsaws reindeer out of it. Now I just need to find a nice piece of ivy to complete the pair.

 

[recipio]

I cut one up once into 1/2" boards for boxmaking.. They all turned into bananas and most developed that horrible green stain. It's also a very difficult wood to work . There should be some advice from American websites and I just bite the bullet now and order small pieces from the US for inlay and accent pieces.
It might be worth trying to dry it under clamping pressure with some non staining plattens like stainless steel
Incidentally if you see a small holly box always look inside. It might be a piece of Faberge jewellery .

 

[leisurefix]

Its about 8 inches diameter straight and growing well - its coming down with some fir trees and a hazel as an area is being cleared.
I'm sure the tree surgeons will cut some rounds or rounds cut in half if I ask.

Holly is good for turning, as ideally you need to turn it when wet, and to a thin wall thickness as it does split a lot.