Thread: silky oak... Does anyone really like it ?

I think with Silky Oak, since it was used so much in furniture making in the early to mid 1900's that at one point almost every home had something made out of it and over time it became just another cabinet timber. Especially now that there is a much greater range of timbers available with some stunning features Silky Oak has lost some of its appeal.

I like Silky Oak but admit that it is not my first choice of timber to make something out of, although it does make nice little boxes.

Know what you mean, I do like it but it has connotations to old people to me. I grew up in a house full of the stuff and it was so dark and heavy.

Thats why I like it used on small decorative items rather than furniture these days.

I like it in small doses. Back-sawn silky, as tripper said, just looks granular, but quarter-sawn can look spectacular - so spectacular that it should only be used as a feature, otherwise it can be overdone.

Originally Posted by Wood Butcher

I think with Silky Oak, since it was used so much in furniture making in the early to mid 1900's that at one point almost every home had something made out of it and over time it became just another cabinet timber. Especially now that there is a much greater range of timbers available with some stunning features Silky Oak has lost some of its appeal.

I like Silky Oak but admit that it is not my first choice of timber to make something out of, although it does make nice little boxes.

You got that right! As a magnanamous gesture, anyone wanting to get rid of that nasty, horrible silky oak - just ring Uncle Keith & he'll do the rest.

I love the stuff! Milled my last log on Saturday so I need some more..

I love it. My grandparents and parents place was full of it and i was amazed at the patterns in it. back sawn silky has a wonderful pattern.

I have 12 slabs of it sitting at the side of the shed drying and waiting to be made into something.....not sure what yet. But i do plan to use some of it to veneer a transom in a small sailing boat i'm about to build. I think it will look absolutely fabulous once done.

I have to agree with keith as i reackon silky is up there. Got mine lot at home from a old Govt build that was being demolished. I got it out of there before the excavators move in and tossed it to the tip. Solid timber doors and frames that have had a fair bit of weather exposure over the last 40 odd years but underneath the grain is just beautiful. I'm always on the prowel for more.

Originally Posted by keith53

.... Milled my last log on Saturday so I need some more..

your LAST log....how many logs have you been through you spoiled bugger

Thanks for the responses.

I'm with Jake on this, coarse soft grain holds no appeal for I.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

you say 'silky oak' .....and most people seem to nod their head in approval.

But I'm not really liking the stuff to tell the truth......Its too bloody granular....if that makes sense.

See, I like fine lined mouldings....and this grain, and the general light colour takes from this look

Anybody else feel the same ?...... any ideas . Staining etc. What you think is a good way to present it.

Ta.

I'm so sorry you feel that way AT!

To help you out, I'll volenteer to take ALL the Silky Oak you have or will ever recieve & look after it for ya.

If you stain Silky Oak may I suggest you pause & give yourself several (more than 10) swift, left-handed upper cuts followed by a huge righ-handed roundhouse punch to the left jaw.

If ya wanna be a worker of timber chose the species for the job at hand - oh, here's a thought! finelined mouldings - MDF

I've been mulling this one over all day, because on one hand I know what Jake and few others are saying. It can be irregular in texture, grainy almost pithy, and unless the tools are really sharp it does tend to pull out, turning, planing or chiselling. Its the nature of the beast, if it didn't have that beautiful fleck or eye due to the medullery (sp?) ray, esp when quarter sawn, it would be uniform in texture. Probably should be filled before finishing, to flatten out the uneven surface, the grains.
I'm a bit of a fan really, relatively easy to get over here, and much 'nicer ' to work than hardwoods, not as heavy and hard. I don't mind the look of bold flat slabs of it but I don't think it suits fancy mouldings or features like that. It matches steel, but can be a tricky neighbour to other timbers IMO, leaning to darker colours.:confused: It can be fleshy in colour.
I've got a stash of secondhand T&G. and stripped back it looks great because not all of them are quarter sawn, so variation across a panel.
I always think of it as light in colour, but the older timber in Queenslanders esp. seems to be dark and sombre. Maybe the fashion was to tint or stain the finish, or is it just aging? I have a small wardrobe, circa 1930's-40's, that was almost Japanned, but when scraped back the timber is golden, and stunning...a veneered panel spread out like a tiger skin.
Its got my vote Jake, if only availability....how much would I be prepared to pay? Maybe I wouldn't be so keen.

Cheers,

I

Ta Bruce. New you'd understand

Originally Posted by MajorPanic

To help you out, I'll volenteer to take ALL the Silky Oak you have or will ever recieve & look after it for ya.

I'm sure you would Major.

Originally Posted by MajorPanic

If you stain Silky Oak may I suggest you pause & give yourself several (more than 10) swift, left-handed upper cuts followed by a huge righ-handed roundhouse punch to the left jaw.

If ya wanna be a worker of timber chose the species for the job at hand - oh, here's a thought! finelined mouldings - MDF

MDF ! shhhhhhhiiiiiiiit !!!

...and I just drop a grand into this stack of silky oak, that I'm now not liking the look of.

The problem at the moment is moulding for more bloody pine doors...... Thought I'd plane up a bit of the only timber I have, just to see what it looks like, and maybe the job off sooner than latter.....attached picture (if it means anything ?) .....point is.....if that timber was something dark or red like cedar or blue gum or even a nice aged looking pine it look great........you'd see all the detailed lines in the profile at arms length.......look classy uno ..... instead its all lost in the dizzy looking grain.

Found the grain hard to read too. Planes nicely.....just don't know how to make it look nice yet.....

yes i feel that way sometimes, tho its good for some things and stable to work, smells like cheese or mouse vomit, have u checke dout the northern stuff, cardwellia sublimis, its often redder and more figured and smells less cheesy that the southern stuff...

I've turned some new-ish logs and hated it.

but then I have a little stash of 100yo boards from an old shelf and its magic.

guess it depends on the tree and where it grew up.

I wouldn't class it as a hugely desirable wood.. but I'd stop the ute if it was lying beside the road

Well for starters, Jake, what do you mean by "Silky Oak"?
(Down your way, I'm assuming it's Grevillea robusta, 'native' to your area, but commonly grown as a street or backyard tree, up to 1500ks south of its natural range? :confused: )

Around Brissy, home-harvested SO is also G. robusta, which puts on a bit more meat in a shorter time than down in Vic. However, if you buy 'SO' from a commercial supplier, or live on the Atherton Tablelands, it could be one of at least 5 different species, but the most comon one is Cardwellia sublimis.
Where Grevillea can be pale, soft and easily split stuff, Cardwellia is harder, more 'granular' in texture, (still easy to split!) brown to pale pink, finishing to a golden-brown under poly and similar stuff. Was used like there was no tomorrow, for sash and other joinery applications. Its medullary rays tend to be bigger, so that it can be a very good facsimile of 'real' oak. Quite a good wood to work, and takes a reasonable finish. G. robusta rays are usually smaller, and it's such a pale, sad-looking wood, that I am quite happy to reach for a stain to liven it up a bit, (sorry Major! ) though I don't go for the blackened 'fumed oak' look so prevalent in the 20's to 50's - the 'grandma' furniture someone commented on......

For some jobs it looks great, and is entirely appropriate if you're after an 'oak' look, but there's no way I'd use it for mouldings! As you say - go with a nice, straight-grained, bland wood for that job - whether you paint it or stain it, it's the curves and lines of the sticking that you want to be noticed - not something that looks like it's contracted a nasty skin disease!

Avagoodone,