Thread: Turning Jacaranda

Yes I made a tea pot from a piece of Jacaranda ,it has nice grain and it turned well cool:
Regards
David

Not a wood I'd go out of my way for but very turnable. I find it a bit plain but it carves well so a bit of decoration is easy.

One of my favourite turning timbers. Colour is fairly bland, but the grain is subtle and far more striking than for instance Huon, particularly if you have a crack at some crotch pieces.

In general it dries well from green "half logs", provided endgrain is sealed, with only occasional end splitting. Turned green, and either microwaved or allowed to dry naturally, it ovals quite a bit, requiring returning, but seldom splits or degrades. Lends itself to natural edge work, as turned green, the bark adheres well, and even dry, a touch of CA alomg the bark boundary usually holds quite well.

Turned dry, it can be a bit dusty, and can be quite irritating while sanding. There is a tendency towards endgrain tearout, which can result in tedious sanding, or indifferent finish. Only solution is to take a final slicing cut both inside and out, using a freshly sharpened, (really sharp; honed etc) gouge.

One photo I have to hand attached.

Like it a lot.

Grows like a weed in the big city not too far from here - is not indigenous to these parts so I'm more than happy to do my share of pest erradication.

Been doing a lot of rough turning of large green stuff recently - really nice.

Here's a piece I roughed out about 6 months back and re-turned to finish the other day.
It can be a bit pale for some, but I don't mind it - just finished with Linseed Oil - waiting for that to dry before buffing on some beeswax. [Edit: piece is 20 inches (50cm) diameter BTW].

Enjoy!

I think its a great timber. I love the subtlty of the grain patterns an the fact that it can be dyed to great effect.

Very similar in appearance to Claret Ash, if you have turned that.

regards

Hi Dan - Jacaranda is quite pleasant for a blonde wood. Young people seem to prefer the lighter coloured woods. The photo of the sample attached is of the bottom of the piece, which shows a bit more of the grain than the top. On this piece I left some bark as a feature and to provide some contrast to the blonde expanse of wood.

BTW - the finish is straight off the tool, no sanding. Hence the residual tool marks .

Neil