Results 1 to 15 of 48
-
24th April 2024, 08:10 PM #1SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
How I hate gum wood, let me count the ways
About 15 years ago I was at the Melany wood show and saw a very juicy wide plank of wood for sale. I was still pretty new to Aussie woods but the moment I clapped eyes on it a project leaped into my head. It must have been fate - right?!?! The rich red and the ripple in the grain really stood out... It stood about 5' tall, 16" wide and 2" thick. When I enquired, I found it was a blue gum and the price was more than right at $60. This little gem was coming home with me to become a pie crust tilt top table in the Chippendale style. And! an unusual style, with lion's paw feet of all things. I knew it within 10 seconds of looking at it.
You could say ignorance is bliss in this case. I charged forward with the project. First, I cut out the pieces to glue for the pedestal and the cabriole legs, and cut out the circular top... The lion's paw feet were wider than the board was thick, so they were going to need cheeks... I didn't want to take any chances so I glued the legs and pedestal with epoxy. I'd never had epsxy fail me - ever. The top was mounted in the lathe and rough turned to dish out the top and produce a circle from which I would cut the pie crust. I then rough cut the pie crust profile and something in the back of my head told me to let the top sit for a while. Don't know where that intuition came from, but I obeyed it. Well, how bout that. After a couple months of letting those pieces sit, I found the top had warped a bit more than 1/8". Back on the lathe to true it up, it went. Luckily it didn't detract from the overall thickness of the top even after having to shave it down by 1/4". I turned the pedistal to a final thickness of about 3 1/2" at the ball. And then got stuck into carving it. Well, wouldn't ya know it, it started to pull itself apart, even with epoxy and only being 3 1/2"!! So I have crack on each side running full length of the pedestal. I don't dare try to split it and reglue it, that's for sure. I've never seen that in such a narrow piece, and with epoxy! But then again I've never used an Aussie gum wood either... I carried on, thinking when I'm done I'll fill the cracks... I swear this bloody table has fought me the entire time. Carving the flutes was a nightmare (well, maybe not that bad, but it was pretty friggin frustrating). Every 1/2" the grain changed direction - literally. In any other wood that I've encountered over the 30 some years (at that point) of woodwork I've never found a wood I couldn't carve against the grain - till now!!!!!!!!!!!! This sh^& is so ruddy brittle I had to change direction or risk significant chipping out, even with the gouge sharp enough to make me bleed for a week (sharper the edge the longer you bleed, in case you were wondering). The acanthus leaf on the ball went out the window real fast. What was possible is an abortion by comparison, but that's all the wood would allow. It looks more like a dead withered vine than lush acanthus leaf. And if that weren't enough, the cheeks that were glued on the lions paws also started to warp and pull themselves apart. These damn things are only 2"x1 1/2"... How is that effin possible!!! The worst ones were gently chiselled off and sanded back and reglued (pro tip! Glue won't stick to glue. All remnants have to be removed before regluing) and I'll fill the others with epoxy and sawdust when it's complete.
There literally hasn't been a single part of this wood that hasn't made a concerted effort to completely derail my efforts. To the point I simply threw it on a shelf and it's remained there for the past 14. I had lost all desire for the project. Every time over those years I would see the parts and give them the stink eye, while mumbling curse words under my breath at them (no, not that bad really, but it adds to the drama. But I really did have a strong dislike for gum wood by this time). My dislike for the wood is so strong that I wouldn't use gum wood for anything other than fence posts and firewood now - I really don't like it.
But!! I've been on a tear lately making stuff and now that the more adventurous project is over - the failed tool chest. I still seem to have some gumption left to start, or more like, resurrect a project or two. So, the pie crust table has been pulled from the shelf, dusted off and I'll be locking horns with it to get the bloody thing done. I won't French polish it. I think I'll go with an ol friend lacquer. I've always like NC lacquer. It rots the brain and causes lifelong neurological damage but 30 coats of gloss looks pretty shimko - worth the risk!
I'll let ya know how it turns out...
-
24th April 2024 08:10 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
- Join Date
- Always
- Location
- Advertising world
- Posts
- Many
-
24th April 2024, 09:09 PM #2
Still, it looks crisp! Blue gum’s usually quite red but that looks like a mahogany colour, photo colour balance?
memento mori
-
25th April 2024, 12:24 AM #3SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
Been rummaging around the shed looking for the rest of the plank. Ended up finding another chunk with blue gum written on it, but it's just as red so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯... I think I may have got my woods mixed up all those years ago. Now I have no idea which gum species it is. Probably a red I'm guessing.
EDIT: A perusal of the internet has me wondering if it's more specifically a river red gum.
-
25th April 2024, 08:52 AM #4
-
25th April 2024, 10:22 AM #5GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- Mornington Peninsula
- Posts
- 2,750
Red Gum and movement are synonymous.
-
25th April 2024, 02:25 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
-
26th April 2024, 12:41 AM #7GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- Mornington Peninsula
- Posts
- 2,750
I have 8(?) 2 mtr x 900mm slabs of the stuff, and I am reticent to use them because of the movement. Might have to cut them up for chopping boards.
-
27th April 2024, 07:41 PM #8SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
If there's one saving grace to the wood, though I'm a novice with all gums, is it seems to only move once shortly after the initial machining. It's been many years now and none of the parts that have experienced enough movement to cause me strife, and been corrected, have moved again.
That reminds me... I need to stock up on beer. I plan to get going on the table soon. The neurological lubricant will help the process LOL.
-
5th May 2024, 06:03 PM #9SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
The journey begins anew
Well two of the legs have been rough carved and now on the last one. Once they're done, it'll be downhill from there.
The red gum hasn't let me down. It's firkin rock hard and literally every mm it resists being carved. I had to make a few new carving chisels for this project all those years ago because the wood was being so difficult to carve. Regular high carbon steel, at a traditional bevel angle was prone to chip. The four below are made from A2 HSS round bar. The 1/8 V tool and the gouge were ground using an angle grinder with a shaped disk to accommodate the flute. They worked out surprisingly well. The other two are a 1/4 skew and a 1/16 chisel. They don't chip and stay sharp for ever.
Funny how things change over the years. I shelved this at least 10 years ago I was so over how frustrating the wood was. At that time I didn't need the head loupe to see the small carving detail. How things have changed
-
5th May 2024, 07:54 PM #10
Ahhh... so your problem is you're rushing into the job. That stuff probably won't stop moving around for another couple of decades. (Even then, any machining will probably set it off again for a while until it finds a new "comfy spot.")
Nor does aging seem to improve it's workability; if anything, I've found it seems to become harder.
But still, every piece I've succesfully completed from red gum has, if I do say so myself, been pretty to look at. Thanks to the beauty of the timber, not any innate ability on my part in design or technique.
If the challenge doesn't break you, you're going to have a gorgeous piece at the end.
- Andy Mc
-
6th May 2024, 11:45 AM #11SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Dec 2011
- Location
- SC, USA
- Posts
- 628
All the blue gum I own is plain, beige stuff. Heavy too. I wish it were red...
One of the beautiful aspects of old furniture designs is that they assumed it would live it's entire life without a spec of climate control, beyond being kept indoors. As such, it's designed for room to shift and twist, and besides the drawers getting a bit sticky when big hunidity changes happen, all is just fine.
Not so much for modern designs, which crack themselves apart when subjected to big shifts.
I say do your best and let it be.
-
6th May 2024, 09:42 PM #12SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
-
17th May 2024, 06:00 PM #13SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Location
- Sunshine Coast
- Posts
- 815
I. Am. So. Over. This. Effin. Wood!!
Been powering on carving the last vestiges of the legs and how I hate this f*(^ing wood. It is so brittle that it splinters off if you even remotely come close to going against the grain. But!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has the strength to f$%^ing tear itself apart, even with the strongest glue - epoxy. And!! I don't just slap epoxy on it and clamp it up. No! I sand the faces to scuff them up to really improve adhesion. And if that weren't enough, I add a bit of dust to increase the epoxies strength. Epoxy on its own is very strong but add some fibre to create a matrix and you have a glue that is for the most part bullet proof (really! mix up some without and some with. Then belt the two with a hammer. The one without will shatter like glass. The one with will smile back and say: is that all you got?). But that's not even enough on this f$%^ing red gum. It still is able to break the bond.
The pic is of the three legs. They suck beyond belief. The splintering and such has me trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. They've splintered so much they're not even remotely the same. Arrrrggghhhh!!!
I need more beer. That'll fix it!!
Rant off.
By the way. This is only creative writing. Yes, I'm frustrated but I'm not ready to kill anyone - yet...
-
19th May 2024, 09:57 AM #14
Man, you have my utmost respect for managing to tiger that stuff into any shape, let alone the pretty presentable result you've got there! Don't be too hard on yourself, if you look closely at old carvings they can be pretty 'rough', they are meant to create lines & shadows that look fine from a few feet away. I've seen close-ups of some of Grinling Gibbons' work and the detail looks pretty rough from a few inches away, but quite impressive when viewed from across the room....
Be interesting to know if what you are working on is RRG (E. camaldulensis) or Forrest RG (E. tereticornis). In my experience, FRG is far & away the harder & more ornery of the two. I haven't worked with a lot of either, but some RRG I've had has been quite tolerable to work with and not so bad to plane, but it is certainly brittle & I have never tried carving it. It also seems to me to be more often figured than FRG, though FRG can certainly have plenty of figure too, which makes it even more nasty to work with! All of the FRG I've encountered is more like cast-iron than wood, it takes the edge off any tool in about three seconds and I defy anyone to plane the figured stuff without tear-out. I made a couple of work-benches from FRG & that was enough to make me avoid it for the rest of my life. They turned out fine after much blood, sweat & not a few tears, which is just as well 'ços I would hate to have to do them again!
Cheers,IW
-
19th May 2024, 10:56 AM #15
I turn both Red Gum (River and Forest) and also SA Blue Gum (E. leucoxylon, which translates as 'white wood'). As others have confirmed, that wood you are working on is going to be one of the red gums and definitely not the local Blue Gum that I turn, which has a lovely tight twisty grain (see the crack pattern) for turned pieces, but I would hate to try to hand carve it...
Stay sharp and stay safe!
Neil
Similar Threads
-
ARGG I hate DAWN Quick Release Wood Vices
By indawings in forum WOODWORK - GENERALReplies: 17Last Post: 7th December 2019, 03:28 PM -
Roller grinder ways/ plain grinder ways
By Michael G in forum METALWORK FORUMReplies: 11Last Post: 6th May 2012, 12:37 AM -
Down for the count.
By Allan at Wallan in forum WOODIES JOKESReplies: 2Last Post: 27th November 2009, 08:37 AM -
Easiest ways making money with wood.... Help!!
By MasterJ in forum WOODWORK - GENERALReplies: 10Last Post: 14th February 2009, 01:26 AM -
how many can you count
By goat in forum WOODIES JOKESReplies: 0Last Post: 10th March 2006, 04:28 PM