magnolia wood

[Joe Frank Porter]

Anybody ever use magnolia??
I live in coastal South Carolina and in the woods among all the giant oaks are these large, tall and slender Magnolias. The trunks are 2 ft thick. A home site in my neighborhood is being cleared, and large trunks are on the ground. I have already harvested the 18 inch cherry tree from same lot.

Any comments on this wood. They aren't the typical ornamental type.

Thanks
Joe Frank Porter

[Tom Brouillette]

I love magnolia. It turns and finishes well. It has a faint purple color to the grain. The first picture is a pestle I made with a bubinga mortar.

This second picture is two crotch magnolia bowls that I rough turned. 344651344650

[Joe Frank Porter]

Tom

Thanks for your reply?
I'm going cut some pieces and save

I see you are in Collierville. I lived in Memphis for 30 years before moving to SC coast 15 years ago.

[Tom Brouillette]

My wife is from Columbia. We will be retiring in 3 1/2 yrs, and moving back to SC. Probably Beaufort/Bluffton. The pestle I showed you was actually from limbing up a magnolia in my front yard. The other came from a "free" Craigslist posting for a MONSTER tree someone had removed from their yard. Another neat thing about this wood is it spalts pretty well.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

magnolia can be spectacular to just "plain"

look for a "black heart" in the tree - that's the best looking stuff!

[Joe Frank Porter]

We live in Beaufort. We were both born and raised in Tennessee. me near Nashville and my wife Memphis. We love it over here.

[Erik Loza]

magnolia can be spectacular to just "plain"..

My mother in law lives in Dallas and my wife and I happened to be driving through the old neighborhood where she grew up. Apparently, my wife's late father planted a Magnolia tree on the property when she was born. The tree is big now but when we drove by, there was a sign on the lot that the house had been sold and was going to be demolished, for some post-modern looking condo. We figured they would probably take the tree down, so snuck onto the property and cut a section of limb off. I had a friend turn it into a little urn. This particular piece must have been the "plain" type but it has sentimental memory for my wife.

Erik

[John K Jordan]

Anybody ever use magnolia??

I have some magnolia from a 300 year-old tree wiped out during hurricane Katrina. This is beautiful with streaks of very dark and not so dark. It turns nicely - smooth, fine grain. I think it is Southern Magnolia.

JKJ

[robert baccus]

Fine turning wood--the dark heartwood is a product of age and is rare and desirable. Like the comment above it spalts very easily.

[Mark Greenbaum]

I believe it is also call Cucumber Wood, if cut with the pith running vertically. I've seen some very nice examples of urns, and would like to get a few piece to try myself. It's prolific here in the Middle TN area, so eventually I'll find some.

[John K Jordan]

I believe it is also call Cucumber Wood, if cut with the pith running vertically. I've seen some very nice examples of urns, and would like to get a few piece to try myself. It's prolific here in the Middle TN area, so eventually I'll find some.


Do you know what kind of magnolia grows where you are in TN? I think what I've seen here in East TN are ornamental cultivars.

From the Wood Database, three primary species in the east and southeast US:

Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), Janka 1020, 35 lbs/cuft
Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata) Janka 700, 33 lbs/cuft
Sweetbay, Swamp Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) Janka 810 , 34 lbs/cuft

If you find a big tree with lots of contrast inside, I might be talked into driving over and helping you dispose of some!

JKJ

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I can tell you for certain that Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) does develop the black heart. I picked up a bunch of wood from a tree that died due to the drought several years back. It was black about 80% through the diameter of the tree. beautiful wood. I still have some pieces around somewhere.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Do you know what kind of magnolia grows where you are in TN? I think what I've seen here in East TN are ornamental cultivars.

From the Wood Database, three primary species in the east and southeast US:

Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), Janka 1020, 35 lbs/cuft
Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata) Janka 700, 33 lbs/cuft
Sweetbay, Swamp Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) Janka 810 , 34 lbs/cuft

If you find a big tree with lots of contrast inside, I might be talked into driving over and helping you dispose of some!

JKJ

John:

I have seen many that have the huge fragrant flowers, and large shine leaves, and almost pine cone seed pods. These may be ornamentals, but I am not sure. I know my 2 kids love to climb them because they have crooked branches that are easy for them to access. If I find any being cut down, I'll post pictures and anyone willing to come get the wood can do so. I am stocked up right now with enough fresh silver maple from the last storm 2 weeks ago to keep me turning bowls for a while. My wife just called and told me to move the pile to keep nosey neighbors from calling codes officials. Probably Grandiflora.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Magnolia_flower_Duke_campus.jpg