New turning woods

[Brian Brown]

Last weekend my wife bought me a Quina turning block from Woodcraft. It is a nice looking wood, but I have never heard of it, and wondered if anybody here has turned it before. What are it's turning characteristics? Is it hard or soft, does it turn well or does it tear out, how much does it move, and does it retain it's original color or does it turn brown?

She also bought me (ok, she really bought it for herself :( ) a really nice piece of curly maple. I know if you plane highly figured maple it will tear out. How is it for Turning? I want to use it for segmented work. I will be making staves out of it, with the grain running against the direction of cut, and the curl running with the direction of cut. I may also use if for standard segments so the grain will be the opposite of the above staves. What can I expect with regard to tearout in both of these situations?

[curtis rosche]

post a picture of the block,........ad see if she wants to buys more

[Ron Ainge]

I attended a demo by the owner of the local Woodcraft store where he talked about some wood that he was going to stock that was coming out of Peru. There is several different varietys that he will be stocking and I am sure that yours is one of them. One of my friend was given some to turn and when he finished the project it was really nice but he told me that it was so hard that he had to wear out his tools sharpening them. I am also told that some of the wood is quite soft but finished easy. I don't know if this helps but best of luck with your wood. Most of this wood is shipped very wet so don't be surprised if it checkes.

[Dennis Peacock]

Ahem.....no pics....didn't happen. :rolleyes: :p :)

[robert hainstock]

Sharp tools. We turn a lot of curly here in Michigan's upper peninsula. I presonaly love the stuff. The only trouble I have had is when I tried to make a pair of chopsticks I found that becouse of the constant undalating grain the piece hed no lateral stability and quickly became two toothpicks.:eek::eek::o
Bob

[Dick Strauss]

Brian,
Try PM'ing Jim King here. If it came from Woodcraft via Peru, Jim's crew probably had a hand in it.

[CW McClellan]

Go to woodfinder.com type in Quina wood in the search blank --will tell ya all about it and other wood --:D

[Brian Brown]

Been a busy week so I'm a little slow. Dennis wanted "peek-tures" so here they are. Not my best work, but hey, I'm off duty. The first is a quinna turning blank, and the second is an attempt at the curly maple. It's 10 feet long, and short of taking it to work, this is the best view I'm gonna get.

[Norm Zax]

I added a Wikipedia article (not public yet) as follows:
Quina is the name of a tree common to some South American countries. It is a large tree, up to 100 ft in height, usually 50 to 65 ft and 18 to 36 in. in diameter.
Its scientific name is Myroxylon balsamum or Myroxylon poruiferum and its spicy scent has caused it to be used in the manufacture of perfumes as a source for Balsam. The wood is dark brown with a deep red heartwood. Natural oils grant it excellent decay resistancy. In fact, it is also resistant to preservative treatment. Its specific gravity is 0.74 to 0.81.
Woodworking: moderately difficult to work but can be finished with a high natural polish. Some tool dulling.
Additional names: Estoraque in Peru, Tolu in Colombia, Quina quina in Argentine, etc. Often called Balsamo. In trade, sometimes named Santos Mahogany.
sources:
http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/quina.php
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/Chudnoff/TropAmerican/html_files/myroxy1new.html
not to be confused with Quinna - a Gaelic name meaning "Wise Leader."
--------end of article--------------
see this guys work for a sample: http://www.esarmiento.250x.com/photosen.htm