Hairy Oak sapwood(??) - usable?

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 16th December 2006, 12:25 PM

I was recently given quite a pile of Hairy Oak offcuts, the result of slabbing. They're not much, although I should be able to salvage a pen or six from it.

Just under the bark, there's a cm or two of very pale timber, which I assume is the sapwood? Or would it be a form of spalting? There've been quite a few borers through the tree, leaving sawdust packed tunnels through just the white wood. Most of the light sections are very fibrous, but parts are quite solid and would make for interesting pens.

My concern? It's a bit like drilling through Balsa... while end-grain drilling a "test blank" the drill broke through before I had a chance to blink! Not what I'd expect from Hairy Oak... burnt drills, char, smoke & boredom, yes. Ease of drilling, no! The "normal" parts of the wood drill as expected, bloody hard yakka. Consequently I'm a tad worried about it's suitability for use in a pen. Does anyone here have first-hand knowledge of this stuff?

**Slow6** · 16th December 2006, 03:01 PM

Cliff Rogers sent me me a bit of that stuff in with the box swap (taking my sweet time getting to that one)
the heart wood in my little bit split all to buggery while the outer lighter coloured stuff seemed to survive the climate change a bit better.
its not as soft as you describe.. infact it turned just the same as the heart wood, nice and hard.

Cliff would know more.

edit: lovely lookin wood tho aint it

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 16th December 2006, 09:31 PM

I couldn't help myself and instead of waiting for an answer I went ahead and turned a pen.

(Penphobics are best advised to ignore that link.

)

I was more concerned with showing the kit when I took the pix, as it's pretty old and I haven't seen it available anywhere in a while, so I thought I'd show it to the new pen-turners.

But you're right: the wood itself is dead lovely. It turned surprisingly well, but I'm still a bit unsure about how well it'll last with everyday handling. For the next week or two this pen will be gracing my desk and being put thru it's paces.

**Slow6** · 16th December 2006, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

It turned surprisingly well

doesn't it just!.. I have to admit shaving a bit out of Cliffs pile for the box swap and turning a natural edged bowl (tiny, bout the size of a pool ball)
I went to great pains to keep the hair intact around the lip, it was one of those joyous occasions when something you didn't think would work... worked!

untill I blew it into half a dozen pieces trying to take "just one last cut"

It ended up doing exactly what I thought it would do... the bugger just teased me for an hour first.

still... I look foreward to a rematch

looks great as a pen Skew.. report back to us on its performance wont ya.

**dai sensei** · 17th December 2006, 01:43 PM

Good luck with it Skew. I have done quite a bit of Hairy Oak and love it, but I have only used the heartwood (bought blanks). My Rose Sheoak is pretty similar in as much is it has lace grain, hard and polishes well. I tried the sap wood on that and they looked Ok to start with, although didn't polish as well as the heartwood, but the lace grain faded with time. Now they are pretty dull.

**reeves** · 17th December 2006, 06:59 PM

its the sapwood and should be pretty hard, hard enough to use if it hasnt gone to rot. have fun skew..!

Thread: Hairy Oak sapwood(??) - usable?

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Hairy Oak sapwood(??) - usable?

Similar Threads

hairy oak

Hairy Oak Pen

Three problems in one post

Amari Oak / Pink Silky Oak?

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions