Strange branch bulges

[dai sensei]

I was walking past a car park where part of a tree had fallen over and its branches had these strange bulges on them. I thought they were either mistletoe, or some sort of insect damage, but either way may make good pen blanks so grabbed a branch. Left them in the car for a few days and only pulled them out tonight, covered in black ants :~, as they had mad nests inside the bulges :-.

After a few sprays of flyspray, I cut the small branch bulge in the left of the photo into 20mm slices, exposing yet more ants :rolleyes:. They were full of voids with swirls of grain similar to a banksia, although it wasn't a banksia tree (not sure what it was). They were too fragile to cut into actual blanks, so I decided to cast them as slices. I stacked the slices in an ice-cream container, filling the gaps between the slices with small pieces from the other slices, then filled the container with coloured resin to the top of the slices. Should be enough for 4-5 full size pen blanks, and that is just from the small branch bulge.

I'll cut up the blanks tomorrow to show what the result is.

Cheers

[Sawdust Maker]

I've seen similar on fruit trees - prunus?

[gawdelpus]

Could be onto something there, possibly been "stung "with wasps or the like ,maybe the bulges are a natural home for the black ants in the hollows or tunnels :?
Cheers ~ John

[Kev Y.]

I have had several of these "bulges". A couple were big enough and solid enough to make a small bowl from, others have a wonderful grain structure which make excellent pen blanks.

OHH yeah, watch out for the little black ants :rolleyes:

[dai sensei]

Pulled them out and sliced them up equally into 23x23x150mm min blanks :2tsup:

They are cast resin with antique copper pearlex colouring that looks like dark coolabah burl when turned. They are certainly showing promise :cool:

[gawdelpus]

Lookin' good there neil :) is the wood part solid enough for turning ? I assume though if they were a bit punky you may not have bothered :) Cheers ~ John

[dai sensei]

Not punky, quite hard actually, with similar grain to Banksia

[dj_pnevans]

Have you made a pen out of it yet?
David

[dai sensei]

Almost, been busy making shelves. Lovely grain, with tinges of red, so wished I'd used some blood dye in the resin and only a little of the antique copper. Still pretty happy with it, plenty more to experiment with :rolleyes:

[dai sensei]

The first pen is shown here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f69/macadamia-gall-ww-129680/#post1260151). The branches are from a Macadamia tree.

[gawdelpus]

I got washed off the Mountain today (Tamborine) and found my way to Neils place for a much needed "survivor reviver " hehe, I was lucky enough to grab a couple of these cast blanks from Neil and hope to make them into something worthwhile this week :).As always the photos are only a pale comparison of the real thing as I am sure most of us are aware . He also shared the secret location of the tree ,but I could only scrounge a couple of small pieces . The tree was almost totally broken in half with a very large growth of "dragon fruit " cactus which had overgrown the area and brought down the Macadamia, half was still growing and bearing fruit which helped Identify it . Hmmm cracked Macadamia shells cast in resin and turned sounds interesting lol. I was also lucky enough to see some of his works in progress ,of which we will see more of in the future :) I am sure . Cheers ~ John :2tsup::2tsup:

[Sawdust Maker]

Aren't macadamia shells one of the hardest substances known to man?

[gawdelpus]

Aren't macadamia shells one of the hardest substances known to man?

I have seen a hammer bounce of one of these hehe ! If you remember the old English game of "Conkers" you could of been "king of the Conkers" lol.

[dai sensei]

I cast a few more.

[Sawdust Maker]

yummy

10/10

[seriola]

very innovative and very spiffy, well done

[Simomatra]

Excellent work Neil you have the hang of this now, all first class