photinia

[jimbur]

Has anyone turned photinia? It must be good for something.

[CV Turner]

Has anyone turned photinia? It must be good for something.

I tried photina sometime ago. For memory the wood colour was plain dull and was prone to splitting.

CVT

[jimbur]

Thanks I'll give it a miss then. Jim

[robutacion]

You give up to easy jimbur, all timbers crack, etc., I haven't yet came across a species of three or some larger shrubs, that I couldn't turn. Now the difference is, some species don't allow you to produce medium to large pieces, and some of then will require a lot more experience and degree of difficulty to repair and rebuilt a by nature difficult and "deformed" blank, then the actual turning itself.

Why don't you show us some pics of what you got, split a small log in half so that we can see the grain and show us what are the biggest pieces you got available for turning!

Looking forward to see them...!

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[jimbur]

the tree has been gradually dying with the drought over the years. Not many flowers this year so not so many complaints from asthmatics. It's a matter of when I take the chainsaw to it. I might cut off a dead branch and have a look.
Any idea if the wood is as bad as the pollen?

[rowie]

I doubt it

[TTIT]

the tree has been gradually dying with the drought over the years. Not many flowers this year so not so many complaints from asthmatics. It's a matter of when I take the chainsaw to it. I might cut off a dead branch and have a look.
Any idea if the wood is as bad as the pollen?I don't know if it follows for all trees but in my experience, if it's died from drought, steer clear of it. It splits a lot more than normal (live felling) and they seem to take up more silica or something as they die and go as hard as rock (on the tools anyway!). I just cut a Bootlace oak last weekend that died from drought and just 2 cuts through 8" diameter trashed a freshly sharpened chain :shrug:

[jimbur]

Cut a small dead branch off and rough turned it as you can see. Hardish but no harder than most dry hardwoods. It had cracks so I didn't push it too far, just hard enough to see the colour and grain. It polishes straight from the chisel and is quite attractive.

[robutacion]

G'day jimbur, your sample looks reasonable but can you get some pics of the tree, with all the major branches and trunk showing?. I'm not familiar with that name photinia, but I know a few species that have a very nasty pollen.

TTIT, most trees when they die from the lack of water, tent to solidify their natural resins/sap, due to lack of moisture (water). For us turners, this is not a bad thing as when you cut a tree in that situation, most of the water is already gone and the resins are drying a lot quicker, this means that you can work that wood a lot sooner (pretty most immediately) depending how long the tree has been dry(ing).

If the timber dry to hard, just soak it. For the chain saw work you can debark the log, drill a hole as deep as you can (13mm or so) where you want to cut it with the chainsaw, get the water hose in the hole and let it soak for a few minutes. After the logs are cut into manageable sizes, find ourself a large drum, old bath tab, etc, and submerse the hole log into the water for at least 48 hours.

At this point, water will do, but if you can make a mix of 1/3 (2 parts water, 1 part detergent) with dish-washing detergent, the wood will become a lot more workable due to the fact that the soap agents will penetrate the timber, softening those harden resins from the lack of moisture when the tree was still up, working as a "lubricant" inside of the wood, reducing the amount of cracking as the timber is removed from the solution to dry, as also will allow the timber to be turned immediately, making the cutting very smooth and easy on the tools. You will get a little bit of a shower for the first minute or so but, the wood will dry quickly as you turn.

This is one of the results of the tests I've been doing solid with the "soaking method" for these last 7 months. Many combinations (detergents, percentages, etc) have been tried, some still ongoing some have produce results already. Not all results were positive, some didn't work, some worked very well, and some need some more testing. One good thing so far, none of the timber used has become unusable, indeed some has changed their colours to a pleasant array of interesting tints.

Hope this help
Cheers

[CV Turner]

Robutacion said: G'day jimbur, your sample looks reasonable but can you get some pics of the tree,...

Yes Jimbur that would be a good idea, the sample you provided is a lot darker that I remember. :?
To my knowledge there are several varieties( & spelling) of Photonia/Photinia eg p.x Fraseri, p. serrarifolia, p.Glabra rubens and p. Robusta aka Chinese firebush. All considered good fire retardant trees.

CVT

[jimbur]

Lots of good advice thanks.
I think it's photinia robusta. When it was at its peak you got masses of white flowers sickly sweet scent which many people are allergic to.
It's not dead yet, just in a bad way and can wait til winter for cutting down. Grass caught light with using an angle grinder the other day so I'm not about to get the chainsaw out til it rains. (had water on hand in case so it wasn't as daft as it sounds)
Bit of a side issue but have you seen some of the old butchers blocks which were just solid tree trunk sections. It seems they left them in running water and eventually they could be used without splitting. The detergent soaking reminded me of them.
The bit I turned was a short dead branch that had been dead for years so that could explain the darker colour.
It is pretty old and over the years has developed a straight trunk about one foot in diameter and five foot long - then there are some good sized branches. So it's not a job to rush into without preparation.
I'll photograph the leaves etc when I get some time.
cheers,
JIm

[robutacion]

Thanks jimbur, you will find that the reason the tree is dying, is not probably from the draught, but maybe something else. One of those trees big killers are the white ants/termites, many times discovered only after the tree(is) is/are down.

Anyway, is relation to the butchers cutting boards, there are a few reasons why they do that. Leaving the board in water overnight, makes the timber grain very tight, making it harder for the bacteria (blood, bones,etc.) to soak into the wood, the wet timber is softer on the cutting edges of the tools (knifes, cleavers, etc.), making them last longer sharp, and after a days work with the board constantly been wet, the board cutting surface is scraped with a large sharp knife, removing all the lose material from the board surface, there is the bits of meat, bone, blood, and that soft layer of wet wood, created by constant sliding, cutting, slashing, bashing of the cutting tools into the board surface. After the board surface is scraped, and after a while, the board develops some soft undulations throughout the cutting surface, due to constant scraping, the board is considered clean and left in water till next day business.

This practise in todays regulations is not acceptable, nor I want to go into deep discussion on the matter (because I'm qualified to do so).
So taking the politics and red tape out of the issue, the butchers boards were hard working pieces of equipment, that butchers couldn't do without. Mainly made of medium to hard woods, the timbers were always dry and free of any natural resins and/or glues, or even any treatments (sealers, primers, etc.). If anything done to the board before putting it to use, was to soak it for a few days (3 or 4) in pure 100% clear alcohol, readily available in those days. The same alcohol, was also used to keep the board soaked overnight once a week or so. This safe practise, was only used by certain butchers, mainly in big cities, as the running boiling water over the board, at the end of each day, was done to control the bacteria growth on the boards. The majority of butchers did only use the first system I explain above, and to be fair to them, (only as reality check), no one ever died of meat contamination, from the boards used.

OK, different times, different mentalities, different views, and different rules and regulations, so please remember, no one is insinuating that those days where safer then today, nor that old working techniques, were better then the current ones, this is only about the use of timber boards/blocks, by butchers in times gone by, (or maybe not...!).

How do I know?, well I've remember to have supplied some butchers with specific boards shape (square and round around 4" thick), as also full floor logs (round logs approx. 16" to 20" diameter, X up to a meter high) self supported logs with the top cut straight and smooth, for cutting and chopping meat and bones.

Hope this was informative!
Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[jimbur]

You're right Rob, it isn't just the drought - the tree was put under stress with a trench being dug close by and having its source of water cut off due to a change in septic runoff. Hope it's not white ants as I thought I'd got a load of apple wood once and found they'd beaten me to it.