Thread: Cape Lilac Grain Pattern

I've often wondered whether the timber from these trees would be worth doing anything with. They are quite common up here in Kal - there's 3 of them in our back yard. The wife wanted me to chop them down because she doesn't like the mess they can make - but they keep our entire back yard in shade in the hot months and for that reason I won't do anything other than prune them occasionally.

It is nice wood to work with and looks good too.

Very interesting timber. What did you use to slice it in half.

Paul

In 2008 I made the resting pad for a cricket bat inside a bat display case out of a piece of Cape Lilacn from a tree cut down on the verge outside our house.
Our street was lined with Cape Lilacs until the started falling down and one tree landed on a car costing the Council $15k so they took them all down and there were indeed all rotten inside.
Anyway I collected a couple of large branches and it is really nice and easy to work with
base.jpg

FWIW the cricket bat belonged to the boss at work's brother. It was signed by the Aussie and Pakistani test cricketers who played in the Lilac Hill invitational match back in the 1990s. The brother kept the bat in a pillow case in a wardrobe. The boss decided it need a display case and commissioned me to make a display case for it.
casef.jpg
The tube was acrylic and the base was on a lazy susan bearring so it could be spun around to see the signatures on both sides. The brother did not get the Cape Lilac and Lilac Hill connection until it was pointed out to him.

A very under rated wood - nice grain in your sample. We know it as "white cedar" - Melia azedarach

Originally Posted by BMKal

I've often wondered whether the timber from these trees would be worth doing anything with. They are quite common up here in Kal - there's 3 of them in our back yard. The wife wanted me to chop them down because she doesn't like the mess they can make - but they keep our entire back yard in shade in the hot months and for that reason I won't do anything other than prune them occasionally.

This is my stash. It all came from a tree (about 900mm dia) next door, the owner built a house in his backyard. The log was milled by Barnsey who use to be a regular on this place. I was glad to see the tree go as every seed it dropped they all wanted to grow and the caterpillars, my shed was close to the tree and they would cocoon in and behind anything leaning against the walls.

Originally Posted by Pauls321

Very interesting timber. What did you use to slice it in half.

Paul

I was going to use a handsaw but was a bit impatient so I used me bandsaw instead

Originally Posted by rod1949

This is my stash. It all came from a tree (about 900mm dia) next door, the owner built a house in his backyard. The log was milled by Barnsey who use to be a regular on this place. I was glad to see the tree go as every seed it dropped they all wanted to grow and the caterpillars, my shed was close to the tree and they would cocoon in and behind anything leaning against the walls.

We had the caterpillars pretty bad a couple of years in a row some time back. Since then, I keep the base of each tree wrapped in hessian, which I pack with an insecticidal "dust" every year. I also drown the hollows between the main trunk / branches and the ground around the base of the trees with pyrethrum. Have hardly seen any of them for quite a few years now - just have to "educate" the owners of the rental property next door to do something similar with the trees in their yard and hopefully we won't see them at all. I'm surprised they haven't already been hounded to do something by the tenants, as the house gets invaded every year.

Nice grain pattern here in Northern NSW I'd call it White Cedar very nice to work with. very prone to spalting if left out in the wet after the tree is cut down. Fast to grow & fast to rot away.

Cheers

RGP

Here's the finished product with an unexpected surprise. I made this small curved lid treasure/storage box/chest. The unexpected surprise or accidental feature is the two tones on the box lid. The two boards in the photo at the top of this post did not give any indication of this feature.

Very nice. I think the two-tone of the top is due to chatoyance, where light is reflected differently by two pieces of bookmatched timber. If you think of it as the wood grain being a series of tubes. light coming in at an angle goes straight down one set of tubes, but is reflected from the sides of tubes sloping in the other direction. Over simplistic, but that's the principle.
The term comes from the French for cat, "chat". Imagine stroking the fur. In one direction, it's smooth and silky, in the other direction the fur stands up and resists.