Allen Neighbors
06-22-2010, 7:24 PM
I have a question-- maybe I should say several questions -- about the Rose of Sharon Tree.
I've searched on my computer for it, and found it in several places, but they all say that it's either a shrub or a very small tree.
This last winter, a friend of mine told me about a big, flowering tree, that had been cut down between his house and mine. He said it was always full of flowers in the summer, but it was down now, and being cut up. We went to look it over.
They told us we could have all of it we wanted.... it was headed for the landfill.
It was a huge, for all I can find out about the Rose of Sharon Tree. The trunk was about 16" to 18" in diameter, and the main piece of it was about 10 feet long. We both picked up some of it. I got a couple of pretty large chunks to blank out. And now I wish I had picked up more.
I needed some more biscuit cutters to take to a craft show, so I cut up a good sized blank into 3"x3"x4" blocks to make them. Wow!! It dried really fast (the blank I used was about 16" dia, and 7" thick), it seems to be fairly soft, but it cuts like butter, and I didn't have any tear-out, even though I hollowed them with a 1/2" bull-nose scraper. It had spalted, laying in the floor of my shop.. just the gray, no black lines... almost like Holly. It must be pretty stable, as I had anchor-sealed just the end grain, and it wasn't cracked anywhere. Had to sand it to 400, very lightly, at that, to make all the scratches disappear.
Can anyone tell me anything else about it? Has anyone turned any of it before? If it's turned while green, how much does it warp?
I'll appreciate any information you might have.
I've searched on my computer for it, and found it in several places, but they all say that it's either a shrub or a very small tree.
This last winter, a friend of mine told me about a big, flowering tree, that had been cut down between his house and mine. He said it was always full of flowers in the summer, but it was down now, and being cut up. We went to look it over.
They told us we could have all of it we wanted.... it was headed for the landfill.
It was a huge, for all I can find out about the Rose of Sharon Tree. The trunk was about 16" to 18" in diameter, and the main piece of it was about 10 feet long. We both picked up some of it. I got a couple of pretty large chunks to blank out. And now I wish I had picked up more.
I needed some more biscuit cutters to take to a craft show, so I cut up a good sized blank into 3"x3"x4" blocks to make them. Wow!! It dried really fast (the blank I used was about 16" dia, and 7" thick), it seems to be fairly soft, but it cuts like butter, and I didn't have any tear-out, even though I hollowed them with a 1/2" bull-nose scraper. It had spalted, laying in the floor of my shop.. just the gray, no black lines... almost like Holly. It must be pretty stable, as I had anchor-sealed just the end grain, and it wasn't cracked anywhere. Had to sand it to 400, very lightly, at that, to make all the scratches disappear.
Can anyone tell me anything else about it? Has anyone turned any of it before? If it's turned while green, how much does it warp?
I'll appreciate any information you might have.