Thread: Conkerberry

Trying to get larger images instead of thumbnail sizes up.

Here goes....

Conker 4a.jpegConker 5a.jpeg

second edit..... worked it out

Thanks Euge

Amazing colours in conkerberry, and some beautiful examples there Euge!

Yes Gab, it is amazing and even better in reality. A pity it is often so faulted but I have seen some amazing things made from it, small items.

ie if one can work with the natural "features" eg bud vases. Its not for the perfectionist!

When you say found today, in your pile, or are you up north again?

yes gorgeous timber

In my pile... a long way south of North Australia.
Had to take a sliver off ends to show fresh surface ... then had to share it

Wonderful colour in this species Euge...years ago was given a stem of it around 250mm diameter which is quite a large example,and was literally fault free too...very pretty stuff!...thanks for sharing...MM

Does it retain 5he orange and green hues ?

Originally Posted by Arron

Does it retain 5he orange and green hues ?

Yep...MM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

Wonderful colour in this species Euge...years ago was given a stem of it around 250mm diameter which is quite a large example,and was literally fault free too...very pretty stuff!...thanks for sharing...MM

Yes the colours are amazing MM.

Its rare to find larger specimens like yours, with a solid heart as even small stems are often hollow. I recall cutting a stem from a small tree about 10" across in the Kimberly maybe 25 yrs ago but it was disapointingly hollow and I was startled when a lizard jumped out of the centre. Poor bugga had to find another cool home. I may have a bit of it somewhere. Always good to include the sapwood and some of the other colours if possible in turnings.

From my experience it holds its colour pretty well unless left in the sun when it bleaches. That's why I needed t trim off a bit to remind myself of the colour in these old stems with uncoated ends that I purchased some time ago. I love the texture too - very fine almost bone like and finishes so well

Cheers Euge

Conkerberry Lidded Box 50mm web.jpg

Yes, it does hold its colour. Conkerberry is a beautiful timber, about as close to the perfect turning timber one could get. This is one of my pieces from 2009, Ray Key inspired.

Originally Posted by Euge

Yes the colours are amazing MM.

Its rare to find larger specimens like yours, with a solid heart as even small stems are often hollow. I recall cutting a stem from a small tree about 10" across in the Kimberly maybe 25 yrs ago but it was disappointingly hollow and I was startled when a lizard jumped out of the centre. Poor bugga had to find another cool home. I may have a bit of it somewhere. Always good to include the sapwood and some of the other colours if possible in turnings.

From my experience it holds its colour pretty well unless left in the sun when it bleaches. That's why I needed t trim off a bit to remind myself of the colour in these old stems with uncoated ends that I purchased some time ago. I love the texture too - very fine almost bone like and finishes so well

Cheers Euge

I was in the workshop today tidying up some old long-forgotten logs. Surprisingly I found the large log from a small tree in the Kimberley I referred to above. The one that housed a lizard that startled me. I had to clean it up of weathered ends and remove bark from the beautiful what I consider "sculptural" stem . It is about 160-180 mm in diam x 600 mm long with a fork at one end. It like most conkerberry has much occluded bark in hollows. I post some pics for members enjoyment. I have end coated the ends. It will be hard to let go of this log.

Here are some pics with captions. Cheers

conker weathered.jpeg

above weathered aged end of large conkerberry stem

conk fresh offcut.jpeg

Fresh face of offcut but with end-coat

conk small end.jpeg

Small end of forked log (end-coated)

Conker large end.jpeg

Large end, end coated

conker log .jpeg

Beautifully figured log with most bark removed. May post close-up later of surface... too nice to cut up