Ive read recently that...

[Wild Dingo]

Camphor Laurel is a bit of a buggar to plane to a smooth finish with tearout and grain in every direction... so I was wondering how it goes turned? Anyone have any ideas?

Im about to "trim" a bloody great CL tree that has these wonderously huge boughs overhanging the house... so just a wee pruning ;)

Cheers!

[keith53]

Shane,

I've done a little bit of turning with camphor laurel but nothing serious. It didn't seem to be a problem if the chisels were kept sharp. I quite like using it both on the lathe and slabbed.

Cheers,
Keith

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It turns nicely, if the tools are kept sharp as Keith said. However the ol' 80 grit gouge will probably be brought into play.

Oh... and I hope you can hold yer breath for a while. I've found the smell's much stronger than with normal woodworking, probably something to do with all the shavings flying up my nose. :rolleyes: Getting lightheaded and stumbling into a spinning lathe is not good for yer health. DAMHIKT. :o

[Mulgabill]

As Keith53 and Skew said keep your tools sharp. I love the smell of camphor in the workshop. Great for boxes etc.
Some pieces have nice colour to it, and down this way I simpily cannot get enough of it, at a reasonable price, to turn.:(

[Tony Morton]

Hi
I've turned quite a bit of camphor over the years I find it ok mostly sappy wood and lighter wood will tend to tear out a bit also if it is realy well seasoned it can be a bit wooley. Nice colour and has some good grain and features as well as giving the sinisus a good clean out.

Cheers Tony

[rsser]

I was once told that the stuff with the good colouring - you get red and green lines through it - comes from the warmer climate up north.

The two nicest bits I've turned have both come from Mullumbimby W/W.

The pieces I've turned from down here are pretty ordinary as far as figuring goes.

But it's a good timber to learn on and can often be found for nothing.

[Mike Jefferys.]

I must have worked my way through several hundred pieces if not a thousand one way or another with trees from the Sydney suburbs and from further up the coast (but not down the coast from Sydney). Funnily enough my belief is that the further north the tree the less the lovely red and green colours which seem to be common around Sydney. Must be the pollution or something?? It suffers from a bum rap when you try to sell pieces made from it. Punters have a jaundiced view of the tree because of the attempts and publicity of councils who want to eradicate it. In its native China it is a scarce and highly valued tree. Given the way it grows in Aussie we should be growing and exporting it maybe.

Summary: colours dull after a few years, very stable unless you mix heart and sap in the one piece, bluestain is a problem in the sapwood, generally a very good turnable species with fewer vices than most, the deep dried-blood coloured heart wood sections take a beautiful burnish. Finally in suburban areas expect to find foreign bodies. In one from Balmain I found numerous bullets (22 calibre soft lead - no damage at all), about a packet of galvanised clouts and a heavy piece of a horses bridle. Whiskey bottles are commonplace completely encased in the crotches although nothing drinkable so far.
Mike Jefferys

[rsser]

Yeah, I trashed two band saw blades cutting up a lump of unknown nature strip salvage. There was a nail punch embedded deep inside. Cheap timber not! Slow learner yes.

[Andy Mac]

There is a lot of it about Toowoomba, a pest yes, but there are many old ones along the main streets. I've come across some amazing grain in the local stuff, red, green, orange and purple... maybe something to do with the cooler winters up here.:confused:

I think its quite sweet on the lathe, ideal for learning as already said, but some do find the smell overpowering. Putting the fresh shavings and planings in a calico bag with other stuff like rosewood is great for storage of winter woolies:)

Cheers,