Wormy Nobil Fir???

[Michael Ginsberg]

Hello All.
I recently acquired from a seller, a piece of Nobil Fir that was harvested from the Pacific Ocean in the Washington area. It has a swiss cheese- like
hole pattern throughout the piece, apparently from sea worms (mollusks)-at least that is what I was told. Has anyone out there turned this before?
I was thinking a basic bowl shape, since the wood is so detailed already.

I would appreciate any input anyone has, regarding this unusual wood, before I mount it on the lathe and muck it up!

Thanks in advance.
Michael

[Wally Dickerman]

Most fir is not very good wood to turn. I've turned Douglas fir but not Noble fir. In case you're interested, Noble fir grows in the mountains in the NW above 3000 ft. It's a beautiful tree and is sold as expensive Xmas trees.

The worm holes should add some character to it.

Wally

[Michael Ginsberg]

Wally,
Thanks. I know Fir is soft, not great for turning... But the holes are so interesting looking, I figured what the heck and give it a try.

In some spots, there is not much wood to hold the blank together. I was going to tape the outside up before doing the inside.

I hope someone has turned this stuff who can warn me of the pitfalls.

Michael

[Curt Fuller]

If it will stay together, I think the time it spent in the ocean might make it better for turning. It should have lost some of the sap and pitch that make most evergreen woods so messy to turn. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Richard Madison]

Michael, I turned some nice little pieces from the trunk of last year's Christmas tree (which was a Noble Fir). But my tree did not come from the ocean. See my post on 3-14-09.

BTW how to copy link to previously posted picture?

[Michael Ginsberg]

Curt,
It does not feel or look sappy. It actually feels light in weight and soft. My concern is the wood staying together. Any ideas, other than what I mentioned with the packaging tape- perhaps soaking with diluted wood glue?

Any ideas welcome!!
Michael

[Michael Ginsberg]

Michael, Thank you anyway:)

[Greg Just]

how about a picture of the wood?

[Curt Fuller]

A few years ago I turned some Douglas Fir from the old railroad trestle where the Southern Pacific tracks cross the Great Salt Lake. It hadn't been submerged in salt water but was preserved from decay or bugs from the salty environment. It was good solid wood so there were no problems mounting it on the lathe. But the salt and other minerals in the wood dulled my tools very fast. And it stunk (and still stinks) like the Great Salt Lake. It's hard to say how your wood will be to turn or how difficult it will be to hold on the lathe. You might need to experiment with using some CA or some Minwax wood hardener to make it more solid.

[Michael Ginsberg]

Curt,
This wood has no noticable odor. Does the Minwax hardener affect the wood in any way? I have never used the product. Can I use Watco Danish Oil as I regularly do, then Beall buffing system over the wood hardener?

It looks like ordinary wood that is stained with dark areas, not very pretty to look at except for the worm holes that are winding through the wood in a random pattern.

Michael

[Michael Ginsberg]

Greg,
I am new to sawmill. I do not know how to post a picture!!
Sorry, I am not real good at this stuff yet.:(

Michael

[Richard Madison]

Michael,
Crop and resize your picture to about 640x480 pixels and less than about 100K file size. Write your post, scroll down to "manage attachments" and select it. When a window opens, select "browse", which will take you to your files. Find your picture, click on it and click on "open". In the browse window click on "upload". Close the browse window. Below the "manage attachments" button, click on "post your message".

Is that right y'all? I do it on autopilot now, so may have missed something.

Test to insert previously posted Noble Fir picture
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=107272

Michael, Sincerely apologize for messing about with my picture in your thread, and hope you are not offended.

[David Reed]

Michael:
Be cautious with this as the barnacles and shipworms (perhaps toredos or a relative) that likely caused this are not worms at all, but clams. They often leave shells or even a calcium liner to some of their tunnels behind and will be hard on your tools. If weathered long after they all died, these may dissolve and are likely to persist deeper in the wood than on the surface. Also the salt will rust your tools and lathe bed if not thoroughly cleaned after each use as it will attract water from the air. Very pretty wood when worked.
David

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Richard.....go to your User CP....scroll down to the bottom...on the left side.....select "Attachments" . This will list all the photos you have posted.....find the one you are interested in......right click it and select "copy shortcut"..go to the post and right click and past it....like this

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=125867&d=1250868781

Sorry for the off topic post.

[Richard Madison]

Thanks Ken.

[Michael Ginsberg]

For those of you who asked me for a picture of the Noble Fir blank, go to ebay item #270474298732
The holes go through the entire blank.

Thanks for your input.
Michael

[Curt Fuller]

After seeing a picture of the block, I think you could turn that with out too many problems. You might want to use some kind of wood that's more solid for a glue block and maybe even incorporate it into the final piece. That's definitely an interesting piece of wood.