Which wood good for finials?

[tea lady]

Topical question at the moment, as everyone is assessing their wood piles for the up coming challenge/turn along. What wood is good for finials? Some are better than other aren't they? Ken Wraight told us a few on the recent "sharp Weekend" which also turned into a turning demo. (We had to test the chisels. :shrug: :D ) But I can't remember what ones he recommended. I'm hopeless with names. :doh:

So any suggestions out there? :cool:

[Pat]

Straight grain, on the harder end of the spectrum. I have turned a fillial in Ironbark, sharp tools and very small cuts. Avoid timber with defects, they may look good in bowls or lidded boxes, but have a nasty habit of exploding.

[eisbaer]

agreed. Straight grain. Hard. Something that you can turn very exactly and with minimal finishing. African blackwood is top of my list.

[Calm]

I think good wood for a filial (filly's - referring to heather mills anything wood do.)

But in your case i think you mean FINIALS - in that situation hard close grain wood - Ken referrs to Desert Timbers as his favourite.

(sometimes i cant help myself can i)

Cheers

[tea lady]

I think good wood for a filial (filly's - referring to heather mills anything wood do.)

But in your case i think you mean FINIALS - in that situation hard close grain wood - Ken referrs to Desert Timbers as his favourite.

(sometimes i cant help myself can i)

CheersToo late. 's corrected my spelling error already. :p

[Calm]

Topical question at the moment, as everyone is assessing their wood piles for the up coming challenge/turn along. What wood is good for fillials? Some are better than other aren't they? Ken Wraight told us a few on the recent "sharp Weekend" which also turned into a turning demo. (We had to test the chisels. :shrug: :D ) But I can't remember what ones he recommended. I'm hopeless with names. :doh:

So any suggestions out there? :cool:


Straight grain, on the harder end of the spectrum. I have turned a fillial in Ironbark, sharp tools and very small cuts. Avoid timber with defects, they may look good in bowls or lidded boxes, but have a nasty habit of exploding.

Sure looks like it :no::no::no::no:

BTW i notice the Axe Weilding Mongrel has adopted a new "hero" "cult figure" or is it just a case of coming out of the closet.:p:p

Cheers

[texx]

about 2 lifetimes ago when i was a member of the QLD woodturners i was given a small piece of gidgee from WA or way out west some where ,i turned an egg cup from it .
it was very hard but great to turn needed no sanding was shiny straight off the chisel and i rekon it would be great for finials .
i would like to get hold of some more of this wood

[artme]

Agree with KW but would refine to the Acacias. Mulga, Dead Finish, any of the Gidgees.

Ironbark is a good hard timber but I think you would be fortunate to find suitable pieces for finials as it is quite fissile.

[tea lady]

:2tsup: I acquired some gidgee from the rubbish bin at the woodworking club. Its amazing what people through away.:rolleyes: Might try it at 's next week, cos I haven't tackled such hard stuff before, unless you count one of his telephone poles. But that was a bit bigger. Anyway, my centres don't line up well enough for little finials I think. :no: Might manage the box bit as long as I don't need the tail stock.:doh:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

If your tailstock doesn't line up accurately, you can turn finials without tailstock support. You might find you're better off without if your tailstock is out more than a mm or so.

I simply hold the blank in pin-jaws, carefully round the whole thing so I can safely use my fingers as a steady, then turn in stages from the tailstock end towards the headstock. But cutting downhill from the headstock towards the tailstock. (I'm sure you know what I mean. :rolleyes:)

You do need steady fingers and once you've moved along, closer to the headstock, there's no going back... so you pretty much want to get it right the first time around. :)

[TTIT]

Dunno about the pro's TL but I don't make my finials between centres. I mount the blank in a chuck - long nose jaws if it's a skinny blank - and turn them from the point down a little bit at a time, finishing/polishing as you go. That way you can make them skinny as you like - betwixt centres would crush a fine finial :U:;


edit! - Skew 'beat me by that much'!!!

[tea lady]

Ah yes! I do remember Ken easing off the tail stock as he worked so it was only just on enough to go round, but not enough to push the finial out of whack. And the blank in pin jaws. (Oh no! Another thing I need. :rolleyes: I will just have to look weird gluing my finial blanks to big waste blocks.:doh: ) (Gee its hard not putting "ll"s in the middle of finials. Why does it seem so wrong. :C )

[Pat]

I am not known for my Finial's (Fillial's:q ) but I was mucking around on the lathe and grabbed hold of a Jarrah offcut some 25 mm ish square ish. The end product is 142mm with the widest part 12.7mm and the thinnest 2.7mm. It looks pretty ugly, but it was more to see if I can do the long thin variety without a steady, as I don't have one:U

I used my 1/2" skew to shape the finial, then sanded to 800, then two coats Trad wax followed by EEE. All with very soft hands. Lathe speed Maximum (3000rpm for me).

I know the likes of Ern, Skew, DJ, Titt and of course the infamous could turn longer, finer, prettier finials, but I thought I did well for my second finial:;

[ElizaLeahy]

OMG!!!!

:)(

(that's exactly what my daughter in law says all the time, she is so funny)

I think that maybe, possibly, perhaps, with some reservation I can say that I have a head start on finials!

After all - they are just little hair sticks...

heehee

:fisch:


As to what wood, I guess that the hard woods are easier to work with, and you want something that doesn't have any faults in it because it's too small to work around. But what makes me use a particular piece of wood is that it's in my shed, available to my hand and about the right size!

Different if I were going out to buy a piece of wood specially for the job, especially if I had an unlimited budget - then it would definately be African Ebony all the way!

Here, have an elephant, it's kind of African.

:eride:

[Pat]

Eliza, I have two offcuts of African Ebony, definitely not for Finials . . . I got them for knife scales:U

[ElizaLeahy]

I have a piece of Madagascan Ebony, sized for knife scales. I was going to use it to make a hair fork, but now it's laminating between to pieces of light coloured fiddle back (can't remember what wood it was), probably for a box!

Another thing about finials is the colour. Obviously it shouldn't fight the bowl, but contrast it. Which kind of limits wood choice too!

[Pat]

Another thing about finials is the colour. Obviously it shouldn't fight the bowl, but contrast it. Which kind of limits wood choice too!

Or it opens up a world of possibilities . . . Tassie Blackwood Lidded Bowl, with a Maple Finial or Huon Bowl, Jarrah Lid and Blackwood Finial . . .

[ElizaLeahy]

Funny you should mention Black Heart!

[Cliff Rogers]

Australian Native Bauhinia is good.

Bauhinia Lysiphyllum carronii
AKA Red Bauhinia

Hooker's Bauhinia Lysiphyllum hookeri
AKA White Flowered Bauhinia

[KenW]

Tea Lady,
All the desert woods, Mulga, gidgee, dead finish, etc.
As cliff said, Red Bauhinia is also great (It grows a bit closer to Cliff than us).
Holly, Ebony and African Blackwood are all good.
If you want some offcuts of desert wood let me know.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I'm pretty sure you also mentioned Cooktown Ironwood, Ken?

[KenW]

I'm pretty sure you also mentioned Cooktown Ironwood, Ken?
I left Cooktown Ironwood off the list, it's a bit hard to work for a beginner.

[tea lady]

If you want some offcuts of desert wood let me know.I've got a little pile of desert woods to go on for now. Thanks.:cool:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I left Cooktown Ironwood off the list, it's a bit hard to work for a beginner.

Not just for beginners... I've been trying to convince my band-saw that it's a well-seasoned veteran, but it's still struggling to cut the stuff.

I'm not sure I want to put it anywhere near my lathe chisels now... :D

[ElizaLeahy]

I know Bauhinia as a low growing bushy type ground cover that they use on embankments - is that right? What colour is the timber?

[artme]

Tea Lady,
All the desert woods, Mulga, gidgee, dead finish, etc.
As cliff said, Red Bauhinia is also great (It grows a bit closer to Cliff than us).
Holly, Ebony and African Blackwood are all good.
If you want some offcuts of desert wood let me know.

Did I not say much the same!!!:doh:Particularly in relation to Aus. Timbers? I crave your attention to ALL pots.

[Cliff Rogers]

I know Bauhinia as a low growing bushy type ground cover that they use on embankments - is that right? What colour is the timber?
Nup. It is a nice big shady tree, the ones I have seen tend to favour seasonal water courses.
The timber, when first cut, is a pinkish brown with a very fine herringbone zebra stripe in it but that fades far too quickly to a neutral coffee/chocolate brown with no pattern in it.
The heart wood is almost black/brown.

[tea lady]

Nup. It is a nice big shady tree, the ones I have seen tend to favour seasonal water courses.
The timber, when first cut, is a pinkish brown with a very fine herringbone zebra stripe in it but that fades far too quickly to a neutral coffee/chocolate brown with no pattern in it.
The heart wood is almost black/brown.And I guess you only get it from road side harvests.:rolleyes: Did someone mention Holly. I've got one of them I should chop down in the interests of weed irradication.:cool: I've also been given a few sticks of "Horizontal wood" I think Its called. From Tassie. Although I've got three sticks that would make a great "bush craft" stool. so I prolly shouldn't use one for a finial.:C

[Cliff Rogers]

And I guess you only get it from road side harvests....
There aren't too many roads where I got mine from. :D

[TTIT]

I know Bauhinia as a low growing bushy type ground cover that they use on embankments - is that right? What colour is the timber?Check it out here (http://www.ttit.id.au/treepages/bauhinia.htm) Eliza but don't go out your way to get some - IMHO, there are much better timbers around for finials. :shrug:

[jefferson]

I left Cooktown Ironwood off the list, it's a bit hard to work for a beginner.

What?:rolleyes::rolleyes: I'm a beginner.....

I did a little top for Kitchen Quality Control (AKA Helen, the lovely lady) yesterday and had no problems at all. (DJ gave the piece to me so it could be anything).

Hard yes, but it sure takes a finish.

I'll rush out to the shed and take some pics in a minute.