Turning privet?

[John K Jordan]

Anyone ever turn privet? It's a highly prolific invasive species in North American and other places, imported as a decorative plant, despised by farmers and foresters, difficult to get rid of. Most I see is less than an inch or so.

I was clearing privet, bush honeysuckle and other growth under some trees and started to clear close to one tree when I looked closer. The tree was the biggest privet I'd ever seen, about 6" in diameter!

I dug up the tree (love that little excavator) and saved the butt "log". A last night I cut into it with the bandsaw.

What nice wood! It is very white, at least for now, with a dark heartwood, fine grain and very dense. It reminds me a lot of dogwood in both color, grain, and strength. Man is it tough! (at least while green) An 1/8" thick strip was hard to bend and I wouldn't break easily with my hands.

I'm going to let it air dry and try turning some.

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JKJ

[Terry Vaughan]

I turned some years ago. I recommend it. It's not easy to find 'logs', but it was great for small spindles such as mushrooms. Fine grained, close texture, turns nicely.

[Dick Mahany]

Is it as white as holly? The pics look like it is. With the straight grain and light color, it could make for interesting opportunities.

[John K Jordan]

Is it as white as holly? The pics look like it is. With the straight grain and light color, it could make for interesting opportunities.

It's whiter than dogwood and almost as white as holly. Feels heavier than holly but it's soaking wet and I didn't measure the density. I've got it all cut up, waxed, and drying now so I'll see in a month or two what it's like. The way it feels now I'm hoping it will make great finials and thin spindles. I'll be clearing underbrush and trash trees all around the farm this winter so I'll be on the lookout for others.

Did you ever try dogwood? One of my favorite woods to turn.

JKJ

[Dick Mahany]

It's whiter than dogwood and almost as white as holly. Feels heavier than holly but it's soaking wet and I didn't measure the density. I've got it all cut up, waxed, and drying now so I'll see in a month or two what it's like. The way it feels now I'm hoping it will make great finials and thin spindles. I'll be clearing underbrush and trash trees all around the farm this winter so I'll be on the lookout for others.

Did you ever try dogwood? One of my favorite woods to turn.

JKJ

Thank you for the info. I've turned holly for finials and really like how well it turns and finishes and was wondering if the privet would be similar.

I have never turned dogwood and should check it out.

[robert baccus]

Dogwood is great for anything, especially small stuff. Hardest wood in the US except for live oak. Very fine grain and smooth when cut with a blade--once valued for cotton mill shuttles. Like any wood with these habits it just loves to crack--dry very slowly. Standard for logging wedges in the south. Great for mallets and handles also.

[John K Jordan]

Dogwood is great for anything, especially small stuff. Hardest wood in the US except for live oak. Very fine grain and smooth when cut with a blade--once valued for cotton mill shuttles. Like any wood with these habits it just loves to crack--dry very slowly. Standard for logging wedges in the south. Great for mallets and handles also.

I read that one reason dogwood was (and is) popular for working around fibers is because the more it is worked the smoother it gets, while some woods get a little fuzzy with wear and can catch on fibers. We use it on spinning wheel parts and other fiber handling/processing tools. I really like it for thin spindles - made some drumsticks recently.

I've been cutting and drying dogwood for some time. Most of what I'm using now I cut in 2006. I have some dry pieces maybe 4"x6"x12" or longer, a little unusual for these parts. (I got a 1x12 board from the center of that tree.) I don't cut healthy trees but if this one ever came down I'd use every piece, the biggest one I've found on my property - I think that's a 24" scale leaning at the base.

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I've used it a lot for boxes, pepper mills, and other utility things. Love it for toys and tops, cuts oh so smoothly. This little top needed no sanding.

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It is very hard but some others, such as osage orange have higher Janka hardness numbers. I like it for tool handles and mallets. The old timers used it for gluts and mauls.

Anyone nearby stop in and I'll give you a piece to try turning. I used to send it out but between my feeble mind and my farm activities I tend to be unreliable.

JKJ

[robert baccus]

That,s a biggun--as a grunt forester I have cut several in the 12-13" dia. size. Really bad to crack as every hard and finegrain wood is. Doing mostly vases/urns I turn mostly spindle wise. After many failures I found a way to season it well. Cut a billet to length--endseal the ends now--recoat liberally with endseal and smack a piece of tin foil to the wax and forget it for a couple of years. NO cracks--but one hollow form left on the kinchen table with only a carnuba finish happened to find a spot of tea glass sweat and POW. Went off like a 22 pistol. Released internal pressure like a ripped drying board. Board run, oil patch roads did this sometimes and killed drivers in cars driving over them. You never know about mother nature. You are right about the hardness but osage is not as tough(splinters somewhat easily) but wonderful also.

[Clint Baxter]

It is very hard but some others, such as osage orange have higher Janka hardness numbers. I like it for tool handles and mallets. The old timers used it for gluts and mauls.

JKJ

Have you turned any desert ironwood, (Janka of over 3200)? It is another of those that can get away without any sanding. I’ve never yet been able to come up with any dogwood or Osage to turn. Still looking though.

Clint

[robert baccus]

Have you turned any desert ironwood, (Janka of over 3200)? It is another of those that can get away without any sanding. I’ve never yet been able to come up with any dogwood or Osage to turn. Still looking though.

Clint

Would love to have some of any size---any ideas??

[Clint Baxter]

Would love to have some of any size---any ideas??

I’ve purchased some in the past, and recently had someone give me a small branch. We also have a small carving that feels like stone, it is so polished and smooth.

Just looked at some prices on the net. Boy, they are proud of that stuff. 12” long, 2” turning square for a measly $100. May need to hit up my friend to see if he can find some more.

Clint

[John K Jordan]

Just looked at some prices on the net. Boy, they are proud of that stuff. 12” long, 2” turning square for a measly $100. May need to hit up my friend to see if he can find some more.

Clint

Might try calling Pete at Big Monk Lumber and see if he has any. If I remember correctly I bought some from him last year at a reasonable price.

JKJ

[Steve Parham]

Hi John,
I have turned pens with Privet and was very pleased. I dried mine in limb form then cut them into pen blank lengths. Again, I was very pleased and really like the look of them. The ones that I have remind me of real ivory which has some coloration in it, not much, just enough to give it character.
SP

[Neil Strong]

Have you turned any desert ironwood, (Janka of over 3200)? It is another of those that can get away without any sanding.

There is a scene in the Crocodile Dundee movie where Mick Dundee is approached by a street hoodlum in New York wielding a stiletto. His partner calls out to Mick, "look out he has a knife!" to which Mick replies, "that's not a knife" and pulls out a very large bush knife at which point the hoodlum beats a hasty retreat.

Apologies if this sounds a bit like that scene...

I turn a bit of Buloke that grows down this way and according to some sources that is about as hard as it gets...

https://www.finwood.uk/blog/63_wood-hardness-janka-chart-craftedforlife.html

I find it does vary a bit, so some pieces may not be as hard as others that have growing in different soil and weather condition's, but at about Janka 5000+ lbf you wouldn't want to drop any piece of it on your toe!


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Although a beautifully figured wood with striking medullary rays it's not as suitable for fine finials as many of our other fine dense woods that we have down our way.

One of my favourites for fine finials is Acacia rhodoxylon, which goes by various local names like Rosewood...

https://www.wood-database.com/spear-wattle/

To see some of our many other Australian woods that we have browse through Vern's wooden egg sample collection (that includes a few foreigners that have found their way down here) that shows pop-up images of each species as you run your pointer over the names...

https://www.ttit.id.au/eggpage/alleggs.htm