Thread: A couple of interesting handle woods

Better than OK Ian.
Pete.

That looks awesome

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

That grain looks scary, you did well to get across the line without any hiccups, and the end result shows that it was worth it.

Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

That grain looks scary, you did well to get across the line without any hiccups, and the end result shows that it was worth it.

Ray

Scary was the operative word, Ray! However, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I feared. This was my first experience of Budgeroo, and it was a good experience, all up. I managed to get the long grain to follow through the more important parts, so I think the handle is as structurally sound as it can be. It's the most interesting wood I've stumbled over in a very long while, pity it's such a limited resource, but I guess that just adds to its allure. I've got a few bits left that should make a couple of marking gauges, when I get a round tuit, but I doubt I will get my hands on much more like this.....

Cheers,

Wow, fantastic! One of my favorite I. Wilkie and Co. saws to date.

Hi ian. Budgeroo sounds like a difficult timber to shape into a backsaw handle.

http://www.thestiks.com.au/TimberPag...eBudgeroo.html

spectacular

Great one Ian!

Where does one purchase said timber?

Regards from Perth

Derek (with a backsaw build in the near future)

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi ian. Budgeroo sounds like a difficult timber to shape into a backsaw handle.

http://www.thestiks.com.au/TimberPag...eBudgeroo.html

Stewie, I think the bloke on that web page may be exaggerating the difficulties just a bit for 'commercial purposes'.

It isn't a very dense wood (about 0.5) and so not very hard - similar to, or a bit softer than Myrtle, to give a comparison with something you're used to. What made me nervous (justifiably so, as it turned out) was that particularly wild grain - the 'ripples' are in at least two different planes, and the grain swept around in a quarter circle - I must've tried about 10 different positions for the tmplate before deciding on what I thought was the best orientation! The piece I used arrived in a very rough state, a 150 x 160mm, wedge, with one side cut with a table-saw, the other side off a chainsaw, so & I had to flatten & thickness it. Despite all, it actually planed remarkably well - the wood has a very slightly 'greasy' feel & takes a nice sheen off the plane. When I was shaping the handle with rasps, I found I did have to be particularly careful where there was short-grain on any corners, like the tip of the 'wave' on the top (as you would with any very curly stuff). As I said, a couple of little bits picked out when I got a bit too enthusiastic with the rasp, but fortunately they weren't in a critical spot & I was able to clean them up in the sanding/scraping stage.

I got a couple of less wild (but still colourful) pieces at the same time, which I will use for a couple of marking gauges, eventually. I planed these too, and they cut very cleanly. So, based on that very small sample I would classify it as as fairly easy to work. However, we know what wood is like, and there is no guarantee that every bit will be the same, but if you can get you hands on a suitably-sized piece, it's well worth a try, I reckon.....

Cheers,