About Wood
Wood is the most amazingly versatile and varied natural product one could hope to find growing on trees. Each variety has it's own qualities and charistics that lend themselves to particular uses and make them hopeless for other uses. Each has it's own grain which gives the turner choices as to how to use it and in which orientation to get the visual effect they want.
I'm lucky in that fallen trees are plentiful here in the Lake District and I have my choice of Ash, Alder, Beech, Wild Cherry, Rowan, Oak, Yew etc. More occasionally I am offered something more unusual, Magnolia, Damson or Laburnum for example, and it's always exciting to find out what colours and grains these contain. I often exchange wood for a turned piece made from some of it (10% as a rule of thumb)
Here are a few examples:
I'm lucky in that fallen trees are plentiful here in the Lake District and I have my choice of Ash, Alder, Beech, Wild Cherry, Rowan, Oak, Yew etc. More occasionally I am offered something more unusual, Magnolia, Damson or Laburnum for example, and it's always exciting to find out what colours and grains these contain. I often exchange wood for a turned piece made from some of it (10% as a rule of thumb)
Here are a few examples:
Elm, once a common tree along the hedgerows, is quite scarce since the invasion of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970's. Mature trees are few and far between but younger shoots still come up from living rootstocks and do well for a few years before succumbing. It has a strong grain and a resistance to splitting so can be dried relatively quickly for turning.
Ash has a strong grain because it is a ring porous timber. Corresponding to the annual growing season, the pores in ash grow significantly larger in the early part of the year than later giving this striking effect.
Alder is very light in weight so was used for a lot of the framing in early aircraft (think Wright Brothers era). It often has an orange tinge but this can be lost entirely during drying, or it can end up with a dappled effect.
Oak is a very hard wood so takes longer to turn and is more wearing on the tools. It has an interesting grain with strong radial lines crossing the growth rings. It has tremendous strength across the grain making it ideal for chair legs, wheel spokes etc.
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Rowan has a chocolate brown heartwood separated from the pale sapwood by a thin darker band. It finishes to a smooth lustrous texture. |
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Cherry Has a light sapwood and a warm brown heartwood. Like much fruit wood it has a tendency to crack if not dried very slowly. |
Spalting is caused by fungal infections and can completely alter the look of a wood often creating wild, random patterns, lines and colours where none existed in the raw wood. As the infections start take hold as soon as a tree is cut down (and sometimes before), there is a limited time period when the wood can still be used before it decays too much and looses structural integrity. Between eight months and a year seems to be the optimum depending on the species.
It is thought that the fine black lines one often finds is the result of competing types of fungus reaching a stalemate. They are caused by the chemical warfare they use against each other marking the battle lines between them.
It is thought that the fine black lines one often finds is the result of competing types of fungus reaching a stalemate. They are caused by the chemical warfare they use against each other marking the battle lines between them.
Two stages of spalting on Hawthorne
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Fine spalted lines on Ash
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Unusual spalting patterns on Alder
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