Thread: lime, avocado timber

I've never used either of those timbers, but a friend of a friend turned some wet Avocado wood on his lathe, apparently his skin reacted with the sap and caused him some problems.

May have been just him, but might pay to be cautious with it.

Will be interesting to see if anyone else has had a similar reaction.

I slabbed an avocado a couple of months ago. It was nice timber to cut and had some interesting grain patterns but I don't know how it seasons or what it would be good for.

cheers
Steve

My rule of thumb is that ANY fruit or nut tree is usually beautiful timber, but must be dried carefully to avoid cracking.

I'seen some pieces turned from Avocado and they were very nice.

As Neil says, season carefully.

I turned a piece of Avocado once - OK to work with, sands and finished well but the colour was nothing to write home about - ended up using some decoration to give it some appeal

A lot of lime is used for carving isn't it?

A;ways confused by this "Lime" thing.

Lime to Australians means a citrus tree. The fruit from these trees is small- up to about60mm diameter- green when ripe and full of a delicious juice that is all the better for the addition of cachasa or vodka.

Lime to Europeans is a different thing and is, as TL says, used for carving.

As an organic avocado grower and timber collector of some 37 years I've never bothered with it, fairly pale and plain 'tho could have some ok grain depending on the milling. As said above most fruit wood'll move on you given half a chance, although I'm not sure if avo comes in that category...I know peach and apple do for sure and they can often be quite pretty. But they are much harder grown than avo, colder climes.

About 25 years ago I saw, in an American avocado grower's publication we used to subscribe to, a few chairs made in the funky "bush-style", you know, all round pieces of branch, ends tapered to fit a slot [round mortise] with a wedge for tightening...you could use a hardwood wedge for contrast [and security] . Quite nice I guess. Rather a soft timber to work.

All our offcuts and prunings go through the big chipper [2-bob size] and back onto the forest floor as organic carbon...so valuable in these red high drainage ex-rainforest soils. They're broken down in 18 months but help retain moisture and nutrients for much longer.

Like to try some tool handles with lime - it's tough and hard and very pale. Good for inlay. Great contrast.

If this helps??

cheers,

richie