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Holm Oak bowl

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
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3,132
Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
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:





 

paulm

grave manibus faciendum
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Oct 7, 2013
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12,046
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Sandford
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Paul
It was a pleasure to meet you and pass away a few hours and swop ditties Neil. Please come again whenever you're around.
 

Penpal

Grand Master
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May 26, 2013
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Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
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Peter
Neil and Paul neat to hear of your get together, about the birds etc then I became intrigued again with Holme Oak somewhere buried beneath my stash I have what is called in Australia Holme Oak grown in the Northern Territory that has a similar pattern in the medullary
rays it certainly has toughness as well.

When I got involved in timber I was of age where I thought I better stick to dry stuff after all timber takes literally years naturally to dry through or can be dried in a kiln, since then in the last twenty years although now in old age I think so many problems occur using uneven dry or wet timbers, the dissapointment and time factors. Even when I receive blanks I give them time to be sure in the roof.

Sorry you had the experiences and the ones posted lately bear this out.

Kind regards you two veterans. Peter.
 

Jimjam66

Chief Battonager
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Jan 27, 2013
Posts
3,775
Location
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Neil, how big is your brain that you store all that knowledge about trees? I'm envious ...

Nice bowl, and I can vouch for Paul's generosity as I have a large number of pen blanks he sent me, some in Holly Oak. Great story!
 

Woody

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Jul 12, 2013
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12,812
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at home
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no
That is a very nice looking bowl Neil but you need to sort that pimple out on the inside use your pet hate tool the scrapper and it will be gone other than that well done
 

Grump

Grand Master
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Posts
10,504
Location
Stevenage
First Name
Brian
I too have some of Pauls blanks including Holm oak, ain't I the lucky one?
Might get round to turning some of it at the weekend if it's that much fun.
Glad you had a good time, I haven't met Paul yet but knowing Neil I bet the Owl wasn't the only one having a hoot.
Use your orbital sander to remove the nipple if you're unsure of putting a blade on it init?
 

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
Posts
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Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
Woody, it's not a pimple, it's the opposite. The reason I didn't remove it by skimming the rest of the bowl was because it was so damn difficult that another issue would have manifested itself elsewhere.
 

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
Posts
3,132
Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
Neil, how big is your brain that you store all that knowledge about trees?

Apparently, according to the wife, not very big on two counts, firstly that I am a man and secondly that I don't have the mental capacity to appreciate the careful and considerate manner with which she conducts complex driving manoeuvres such as parking and steering.
 
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