Neil
Fellow
A couple of weeks ago a visit to my mother in law was tempered by two visits to see Paul M. Its not every day you go into someones kitchen and find a bird of prey in danger of developing gangreen sitting next to the aga, but I think that there is anything normal about anyone who writes on these pages! Paul and his son's birds are even more beautiful (or at least the one next to the cooker and the owl that I saw) look even more beautiful than the pictures he has already posted and from that perspective alone it was a fascinating visit. Although we never knew each other in the Navy our time overlapped and we had some common friends, Pauls Chief Diver was one of my watchkeepers on a destroyer. Paul very kindly showered me with some of Somerset's finest vegetation that he had plundered and cooked.
One of the pieces of wood was a piece of Holm Oak. For those of you who havent turned this stuff before, its an evergreen member of the Oak family, latin name Quercus Iles, Quercus being the family name for oak and the Ilex suffix, which is the family name for holly, added to denote that it is an evergreen. It is a native of the meditteranean basin but has become naturalised in some parts of britain, and grows here but only in the region south of a line running between the Wash and Bristol. It thrives in salty coastal air, any inland plants are normally planted for whatever bizarre reason. The wood is much harder than European (or English) Oak and much heavier, European Oak being 650Kg/m3, Holm Oak is 850Kg/m3. The wood is also very brittle and I have had a bowl explode on the lathe before without even getting a catch. When it did explode it did so with pieces as sharp as a scalpel, thankfully I was not in the firing line.
Paul gave me an end grain blank that he had cooked/boiled and put next to his aga for two weeks. I was interested to see if it had any effect on removing the tension in the cut wood and also whether Pauls expectations of a dry wood following his two week drying out period.
A bit difficult to ascertain since it was an end grain bowl and wasnt likely to move to much as the forces would be symetrical anyway, but below are the results. It has moved, the bowl is not circular and unfortunately even two weeks next to the Aga had made little impact on the moisture content as it was sopping wet in the middle. The burr type pattern on the face of one side of the bowl has moved and is not flat.
This has got to be one of the most difficult woods to turn, wet or dry! It is a real bastard and fought all the way. Yes you can see an inverted nipple in the bottom of the bowl, I wasnt going to try and get it out with memories of the other exploding bowl.
The following night I joined Paul at Weston Super Mare Woodturning Club and had a very enjoyable evening in a very friendly and informal gathering, thanks Paul.
Heres the bowl:
One of the pieces of wood was a piece of Holm Oak. For those of you who havent turned this stuff before, its an evergreen member of the Oak family, latin name Quercus Iles, Quercus being the family name for oak and the Ilex suffix, which is the family name for holly, added to denote that it is an evergreen. It is a native of the meditteranean basin but has become naturalised in some parts of britain, and grows here but only in the region south of a line running between the Wash and Bristol. It thrives in salty coastal air, any inland plants are normally planted for whatever bizarre reason. The wood is much harder than European (or English) Oak and much heavier, European Oak being 650Kg/m3, Holm Oak is 850Kg/m3. The wood is also very brittle and I have had a bowl explode on the lathe before without even getting a catch. When it did explode it did so with pieces as sharp as a scalpel, thankfully I was not in the firing line.
Paul gave me an end grain blank that he had cooked/boiled and put next to his aga for two weeks. I was interested to see if it had any effect on removing the tension in the cut wood and also whether Pauls expectations of a dry wood following his two week drying out period.
A bit difficult to ascertain since it was an end grain bowl and wasnt likely to move to much as the forces would be symetrical anyway, but below are the results. It has moved, the bowl is not circular and unfortunately even two weeks next to the Aga had made little impact on the moisture content as it was sopping wet in the middle. The burr type pattern on the face of one side of the bowl has moved and is not flat.
This has got to be one of the most difficult woods to turn, wet or dry! It is a real bastard and fought all the way. Yes you can see an inverted nipple in the bottom of the bowl, I wasnt going to try and get it out with memories of the other exploding bowl.
The following night I joined Paul at Weston Super Mare Woodturning Club and had a very enjoyable evening in a very friendly and informal gathering, thanks Paul.
Heres the bowl: