Out of Africa - Ficus sycomorus

**Caveman** · 5th November 2006, 01:18 AM

G'day all!
Turned some really unusual wood recently (lovely grain) - thought I'd share it with you.
Turned from Ficus sycomorus (from the fig tree family - bears large edible fruits - much loved by the monkeys!)
An incredibly light and soft wood.
Rough turned - waxed and dried for a couple of months then re-turned - no problems encountered other than requiring a final pass with a freshly sharpened tool prior to sanding (which should be SOP anyway I guess).
Finished with linseed oil and beeswax.

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 5th November 2006, 01:55 AM

It does have some lovely grain, doesn't it?! If you hadn't said 'twas a Ficus, I'd never have guessed it.

With Linseed/Beeswax, I gather it's food safe? Nice job!

**hughie** · 5th November 2006, 08:27 AM

Andy,

Good grain structure, I like it. Linseed is a good choice its brought the grain out well. well done mzee

**cedar n silky** · 5th November 2006, 08:47 PM

Nice job caveman!

I really like your use of those shavings as a backdrop

**Doughboy** · 5th November 2006, 08:51 PM

Lovely grain in that bowl! Well done and it will look a treat on your sideboard.

Nice work

Pete

**Skewpid** · 5th November 2006, 11:20 PM

How cool is that!

A battery powered bowl

**TTIT** · 6th November 2006, 12:44 AM

Good one Caveman! Don't ya just love using some oddball timber that you've never seen used before! Does it for me

**OGYT** · 6th November 2006, 09:13 AM

Sure looks like our native sycamore, only ours doesn't have the edible fruit... just a bunch of spiney little balls that clutter the ground.
I also like the shavings background... Well done. Beautiful grain, too.

**Caveman** · 6th November 2006, 05:20 PM

Thanks for the comments one and all

- real nice.
Always on the lookout to try new / unusual / different timber.

**tashammer** · 6th November 2006, 05:25 PM

beautiful looking grain Caveman, well done. What sort of varieties of timber do you have over there? (This is to overcome my mental picture of plains, elephants and acacias).

**Farnk** · 7th November 2006, 11:16 AM

Xelent grain and a fitting form to show it off.
Hmm, I wonder how much of that I could smuggle back in hand luggage?

**tashammer** · 7th November 2006, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Farnk

Xelent grain and a fitting form to show it off.
Hmm, I wonder how much of that I could smuggle back in hand luggage?

Just take the fittings over with you. Buy 2 matching slabs and fittings. Then, carry aboard as hand luggage. (the reason for having 2 slabs is so that the Customs have something to look at when you open the "case".

**Caveman** · 7th November 2006, 11:43 PM

Thanks for the comments guy's.

Tashammer - yep, plenty acacia's round here, however not too many elephants left unfortunately.
As this country has such varied climatic zones (from desert to tropical rainforest and everything inbetween) we have a huge range of different timbers - of which most of the useful stuff has been over exploited to the brink of being extremely endangered in the region.

I use mostly trees that we have to take down due to various construction - dams etc. (the bowl pictured came from a lovely tree that I had to give a severe pruning to make space for a reservoir - luckily the main trunk still remains).

Having a friendly landscaper an hour away in the big city keeps me in stock of some of the more exotic stuff.

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Out of Africa - Ficus sycomorus

good one

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