monkey ear anyone?

[Chris Haas]

i just got a bunch of Guanacaste tree, or monkey ear, or elephant ear, or ear tree. it flowers yellow twice a year and leaves these seed pods that are dark brown and look like ears. anyways, it has a beautiful heartwood that is about as dark as walnut, so i'm excited about that. my question is has anyone ever turned it, and if so does it turn well, or do i just have a bunch of firewood to burn now. thanks in advance

[Bob Hallowell]

Chris,
I don't know anything about it but I would say it's no good and you better send it to me to burn:D.

you can turn any wood, try it and see what you think

[Maria Alvarado]

Chris,
I've never turned it but am interested to see your results. They are pretty interesting looking trees. Where did you buy it?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Earpod/monkey ear etc. Related to the monkey pod tree. Fairly much a weed tree here in Hawaii. I just rough turned 2 boxes from a crotch piece. It is still green, waiting to dry.
Very "sappy" wood, my chisels were getting gummed up a lot. I posted a thread on how to keep the gum from accumulating on the chisel. Any ideas? So far it looks a lot like it's monkey pod relative. Maybe a little more grain definition. Nice grain but not tight. Should finish up well. It does NOT smell good when turned. Turn it. It should be easy to turn. If not, I hope it was free. LOL

Just my 2 cents. I actually know nothing about trees. Just what the tree trimmer said.