Some very nice timber.

**Old Croc** · 23rd October 2016, 06:00 PM

This is a set of salt and pepper grinders that I have just finished for John.G at the Sawdust Factory. He gave me a stick of this timber to make them and while it was not the easiest timber to turn, it sure is stunning. It was a bit skinny to make this style of grinder and some may say they are not balenced but thats one of the limitations of using Crushgrind® mechanisms as you need a thicker neck. In another post I described how I use a plastic spacer to identify salt from pepper, which you can see.

Quote from JohnG.
Brown Salwood is a trade name that applies to a number of Acaccia species ex Far North Queensland. If you want to be pedantic, this is a piece of New Guinea Red Wattle, Acaccia crassiocarpa. It's the least commonly milled of the half dozen or so acacias up here because it's not particularly widespread and seldom grows with good form for a traditional saw log. That I know of we're the only mill that saws it with any regularity because poor form or no it's always worth some trouble IMHO it's one of the prettiest timbers in the world and is almost always consistently figured.

Red/ gold highlights on a brownish field, it takes a polish well and is very workable with none of the brittleness of Blackwood.

Now I just have to work on him to mill me some in Woodturner sizes, I.E. 90mm square.
Rgds,
Crocy.
P.S. I am not a good photographer.

**powderpost** · 23rd October 2016, 06:55 PM

Yep, that sure is some nice timber, that turning is not too bad either..

Jim

**smiife** · 23rd October 2016, 07:05 PM

Hi crocy,
Beautiful timber , great turning ,
They look very nice mate , well done

**Old Croc** · 23rd October 2016, 08:05 PM

Thanks for the compliment Jim and Smiife. As I am pretty handicapped at present with my numb fingers it was a challenge. It is amazing what you can do when you have to, most of it was done with various bowl gouges wedged in my armpit and steered with my left hand. Here is a slightly better picture.
Rgds,
Crocy.

**John.G** · 23rd October 2016, 09:19 PM

Umm... I think there's some 100x100's out the same batch piled up somewhere, or maybe it's 250x100's. I'll look and see. And a fresh log in the yard. And a couple of the 75x75s are definitely still there. Plus 1 serving as a doorstop in the home office.

Mate, those are truly stunning. I've never seen it turned before, and normally get to see it as "kitchen" with a satin finish. That high gloss gives it something else. When you say it wasn't easy to turn - translate to sawmillese please: stringy/ tearout/ movement/ full of bloody silica so it wore me chisels out / cracks etc etc.

You're mad of course.. the almost but not quite 1 armed turning technique sounds interesting, but there's no " had to" about it.

**wheelinround** · 23rd October 2016, 09:26 PM

Good to see you are back at the lathe Richard real nice they is

**Old Croc** · 23rd October 2016, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by John.G

Umm... I think there's some 100x100's out the same batch piled up somewhere, or maybe it's 250x100's. I'll look and see. And a fresh log in the yard. And a couple of the 75x75s are definitely still there. Plus 1 serving as a doorstop in the home office.

Mate, those are truly stunning. I've never seen it turned before, and normally get to see it as "kitchen" with a satin finish. That high gloss gives it something else. When you say it wasn't easy to turn - translate to sawmillese please: stringy/ tearout/ movement/ full of bloody silica so it wore me chisels out / cracks etc etc.

You're mad of course.. the almost but not quite 1 armed turning technique sounds interesting, but there's no " had to" about it.

Well the fresh log in the yard sounds very interesting, must ring you. Bowls, Platters and Cheese Boards, yahoo.
When I said it wasn't easy to turn, I meant because of my hand. The actual timber bored easily for the mechs, but as I cant use a skew the bowl gouges were a bit rough and tore the grain a bit, but the 150 grit gouge fixed that. I would say its not as easy as Silkwood, but it does not bruise like Maple does.
When I said I had to do it, it was more for my sanity, I am slowly going mad. Canceled the 2nd trip to the US, can't use a chainsaw, cant hold a full glass stubbie, so for 3 weeks I emptied one of my shipping containers and restacked it, piece by piece, all one handed.
But I feel better now I have achieved this.
Rgds,
Crocy.

**Mobyturns** · 24th October 2016, 04:44 PM

Crocy,

Nice work mate. Sure is special wood.

**RuRu** · 12th March 2018, 07:52 PM

Hey Crocy, I'm new here but couldn't help but respond when I saw your comment about having no feeling in 1 hand. I have no feeling in either hand or forearm but am attempting to turn while trying various grips or resting the chisels up my forearm. How are you holding the chisel? How are you managing when actually turning and the wood shavings accumulate on the end of the chisel? I am having some trouble if I can't see the end of the chisel.

I am considering getting something like this https://www.harrisonspecialties.com/...l-laser-tools/ as it advertises as being helpful to people have to turn while seated. Have you (or anyone else considered something like this?

I look forward to your comments
Cheers
Ruru

**Old Croc** · 12th March 2018, 10:04 PM

Ruru, if you go over to the Health Issues section and look for my thread titled Nerve Damage, you will get the story about my hand. I recently built my own articulated hollowing rig using Trent Bosch 3/4 inch /20MM TCTipped tools. I am going to start a new thread on it soon. It looks similar to the one in the link you have posted and while I can see how you could turn the inside of bowls, it really is for deep hollowing.
Rgds,
Crocy.

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