Finnish timber

[Yogi Rasi]

Hi pen-pals,
I'm in the last 10 days before I leave Finland to come home to Brisbane. I've come across a special type of wood. It's a curly birch but it has heaps of dark squiggles in it. The Finns have been using it for knife handles for generations. I've made a couple of pens out of it. They look great because it has so much detail which is very important for such a small item as a pen. In Finnish the wood is called 'visakoivu'. Does anybody know the English equivalent? I'm bringing some back. Is anyone interested? I've got a contact here who is willing to send some Northern European timbers e.g very old pine, birch, alder and others. I don't know if there is a supplier in Australia?:?
cya soon,
Yogi

[Moparmies]

Greetings from Finland, land of the thousand lakes!

Here's few samplepics about curly birch (visakoivu): http://www.brisa.fi/500x.jpg.

[DJ’s Timber]

Definitly interested

[Yogi Rasi]

Greetings from Finland, land of the thousand lakes!

Here's few samplepics about curly birch (visakoivu): http://www.brisa.fi/500x.jpg.
Sorry about the typo on the title.
Whereabouts in Finland do you live? Do you want to make contact?
Jouko/Yogi

[lubbing5cherubs]

Very nice. Hmm. What are you trying to work out??
Toni

[Gil Jones]

Mazur Birch

[Yogi Rasi]

Mazur Birch
That's it, Gil. I had heard it before but I'd forgotten.
Thanks Mate.
Yogi
Toni, I'd hoped you would read my thread.
cya

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Mmmm... had a look at some other pics on the brisa.fi site and I'm definitely interested!

[Fireman sam]

Me to it looks good :2tsup:
Andrew

[Clinton1]

very interested.
Are we talking a box full of shorts to be sent via ship, or a few pen blanks in an airmail bag?
What sizes?

Appreciate the offer.

[bdar]

Keep me posted Yogi some Masur would be nice
Darren

[Yogi Rasi]

very interested.
Are we talking a box full of shorts to be sent via ship, or a few pen blanks in an airmail bag?
What sizes?

Appreciate the offer.
About 1/4 cubic metre of various sizes from 200x50s to itzy bitzy, teeny weeny pen blanks. I'm cutting up a short thick trunk and getting the most out of it that I can. I may have to sacrifice some of the other types of wood that I wanted to bring back to make room. We'll also see what Australian Customs says. I'll keep you informed.
Yogi.

[Moparmies]

Whereabouts in Finland do you live? Do you want to make contact?
Jouko/Yogi
I have send e-mail for you. Hopefully you understand finnish yet... :?

[schaf]

sounds like a nice offer.I am interested
Terry

[Ross]

Nice timber. I am interested.

Ross

[soundman]

Don't worry about customs.... they only want their pound of flesh.
Quaranteen are the blokes you have to please.

cleen, undeseased timber, sawn on all faces, no splits, cracks or signs of insect activity, not protected spicies or prone to carrying desease.

or they want to either charge you to nuke it or burn it.

cheers

[Clinton1]

About 1/4 cubic metre of various sizes from 200x50s to itzy bitzy, teeny weeny pen blanks.


:o

:U

:2tsup:

[bsrlee]

I have a very nice Finnish Police 'head knocker' made from that 'burl' wood - no spalting. In a previous life I was given it by some visiting Finnish Police for showing them around our Comms Centre.

[tashammer]

ah yes bsrleee, the old days before the black aspro was even thought of. I had been given a Pommy truncheon but i am darned if i know where it has ended up now.

[Yogi Rasi]

:o

:U

:2tsup:
Being a novice woodturner I need to know what are the most practical sizes for a variety of turning projects, not just pens? Pens, I have only used one size pen kits. Is there a variety of blank sizes?
Yogi

[Clinton1]

The "whatever x 50" sounds good to me, as I would use it to cut veneers, and the larger the size the more flexibility. Length up to 1 meter, but down to 500 is good. Shorter than that starts to put it in the 'less useable' category.
Others would be better suited to suggest good sizes for turning blanks.

[DJ’s Timber]

The general size for pen blanks is normally about 3/4" x 3/4" x 5" to 6".

As for turning pieces, you can go from 3" square or round up to say 10" and 2" to 4" thick.

Spindle pieces can be from say 1 1/2" square up to 4" square and starting at 3" or 4" long upto say 12" or 16" long

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

For turning blanks, anything square (or pre-rounded) is effective. :) Preferably with grain oriented along the longest side.

The thicker the piece, the more highly valued. eg. a 6x6x6" cube would be worth a lot more than three 2x6x6" blanks.

[tashammer]

the fun begins when you try to get a 100' x 10' dia log into a liddle PostPak.

Even if you join up a lot of them, they still wont let you post it. Spoilsports.

[Yogi Rasi]

For turning blanks, anything square (or pre-rounded) is effective. :) Preferably with grain oriented along the longest side.

The thicker the piece, the more highly valued. eg. a 6x6x6" cube would be worth a lot more than three 2x6x6" blanks.
Thanks all. Must go downstairs and start cutting.
Bye, Yogi