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Hoarded Treasures Exposed Vol 4

16 years ago

It’s time for another installment of Hoarded Treasures Exposed! This month I am pulling another beautiful piece from the wood turning pile. Often called the woodturner’s gold, Amboyna Burl or Pterocarpus Indicus, is hard to equal for color and figure. This wood grows in southeast Asia with the most ocurrances in Cambodia and Myanmar. I stumbled onto a great deal on ebay again for a small lot this specie. So far I have turned a few pens, some bottle stoppers, and a kaleidescope out of it. This is the last piece I have left and measures 2 by 3 by 8″.

Amboyna is great for turning. It has a pleasant aroma when you turn although I am sure that the dust is not good for you to breath like most tropical exotics. Not that any wood dust is good to breath, but I recommend a respirator when working with this stuff. Like any burl you need to be careful when working with it because of the wild grain patterns it can be unpredictable under the tools. Take light cuts and enjoy the constantly changing appearance of the wood as you shape it. In several instances I have been surprised as different colors appear on the surface when I have it spinning on the lathe. I made a pen out of this once that as I was turning the nib end, suddenly a yellow streak appeared near the middle of the blank. It was completely isolated and different from everything around it. Pure magic!


In my experience the highly figured woods look better when used sparingly. As you can see by these above shots there is a lot going on here and to use large amounts of it may be overkill. I have saved this particular block for last because of it’s larger dimensions, there may be uses for it beyond simple turnings. I could see some veneer cuts from this or even a small box made from it. Whatever I do, I would want to make sure I don’t lose the overall effect of all this swirling grain.

So let me hear your thoughts. What should I do with this treasure exposed from the vault of wood hedonism?

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Vic

Roger,

This might sound a bit abusive, but it worked on one of my dogs that chewed on power cords, hoses, etc.
The next time it happens, show the cord or hose to the dog. Now the part that seems wrong. Wrap the cord
around the dog (carefully so he/she can’t get hung) and make the dog wear it for a few hours. The heavier it is
the better. My girl has never chewed on anything resembling a cord since. Probably saved her life.

Vic

Sorry Shannon, just noticed the name Rogers is the last name….oops.

Shannon

Vic,

I haven’t heard that technique before. I think I may have fixed the issue though. I have actually rewired a machinery to use armored cable. The stuff is flexible enough for my purposes and it allowed me the opportunity to rework some of the switches and add some length to the power cords. I have now done my jointer, table saw, and band saw. Everything else can be stored away. Thanks for stopping by.

Vic

Well, it was out of desperation to keep my compulsive obsessive dog from killing herself. Thank God it worked!
Our dogs are our babies, as we don’t have actual children. Two of them have a crush on Clarence, by the way:D

Neil

To continue:

I’d plane in the ee-eve…’nin, All over this lan…d!!!

I’d plane out.. twisted boards.
I’d plane out…..cuuu-a-a-ups!!!

I’d plane out…….love between my spoke-shave and my chisels.

Wood…….worrrrk’in…..in…Aaaamerrrrica!!!!

Pete Seeger’s Brother

See you there……..look for me I’ll remember Roger’s Lyrical Fine Woodworking Blog….Neil

Neil

I just broke my mallet just like the one you show on your bench…..thinking about changing style to the wooden round….I don’t want the polyester face, or a Brass head…..big into sculpting with fishtail gouges so I like the flat face, but as I go finer, maybe there is more control with the carvers mallet. What are your thoughts????

Thanks………Neil

Shannon

Neil,

I haven’t used the wooden carvers mallets, only the poly face one. For what it’s worth, I found I had a lot of control with it. I just started messing with carving “T-Chisel” style and doing fans and the like for casework. I like that I can tap away and not worry about the angle of the striking plane. I also used it for carvning out the seat of a Windsor chair and it worked great. The standard mallet in the pic above I use for mortising. I have a couple of big blocks floatin’ around the shop. Maybe I’ll make one of the wooden ones and see what kind of difference I see. If nothing else, it could be a fun project!

Shannon

Neil,
I love it, how about this one

I went down to Berea to play
Studyin’ ’bout them woodworking ways
And who shall plane that twist down
Good lord show me the way.

Oh bloggers, let’s go down
Come on down, dontcha gotta come down
Oh bodgers let’s go down
Down to Berea to play

I’ll look for you and bring my tamborine!

Neil

Shannon you threw the polester “pants suit” at me. I think I’m gonna try old roundie in wood. Thanks!!!!!

I’ll be looking for the guy with……should I say it…..ahh what the heck ….
“The Green Tamborine”

Neil

Yo Mr Rog……….. love this line for above:

“It took me this long to really get my head around the revelations that I experienced in those 3 short days.”

First time I ever went to hang out with “woodworking guys” was just a few weeks ago, up until then, it’s always been work related. I found it emotionally draining, feeding off all the positive vibe. The jousting, the laughing, the thinking……truely invigorating.

I’m hoping the KY handtool conference provides that same stimulus. I believe that’s the hidden secret to woodworking.