honey suckle twisted wood

[david privett]

I did some looking but have not found much about turning wood that has been choked by honey suckle . Has anyone here tried any of it, yes most of it is on the small side but I was wondering about the effects on the grain good or bad or is it just luck to find something interesting? Thanks Dave

[Peter Blair]

Dave, i have never tried to turn it but the twists and 'turns' would be most interesting. I love hearing about someone thinking out of the box. Please post if you try . . .

[John K Jordan]

David,

We have a lot of those twisty trees on the farm here, mostly dogwood it seems. As you mentioned, most of them are pretty small and might not be big enough for much turning. But just now I imagine an interesting spindle with the outside turned away leaving the spiral groove with the bark on it - a "natural edge" spindle turning.

When the tree gets bigger maybe the vine breaks and the tree slowly repairs itself. Since they are dogwood any interesting grain twists and turns might be invisible. I did see a larger tree that appears to have grown around the vine leaving a "vine inclusion". That might be interesting. I haven't looked for a few years but if I find a nice one I'll save it for you. Our place is near Knoxville.

The small ones do make fantastic walking sticks and I've let friends who make rustic chairs come and hunt for them in the woods.

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

There is a hazel nut tree called Harry Lauder's Walking Stick which grows in a spiral. It's grafted,so if you harvest it ,you have to be sure to cut above the graft. Or the plant will retool for straight walking sticks

[Reed Gray]

I did see a high school student take a section of about 4 inch diameter Wisteria vine and turn it, so 20 or 30 individual vine sections. Really interesting texture, kind of similar to when some one glues the colored pencils together and turns them. Holding it together as you turn could be a 'challenge'...

robo hippy

[david privett]

where this is mostly on my property is a stand of young I think it is called blackjack gum. some range from about 3 inches at the choke to maybe 5 inches in the non-choked area. I will look into this further, thanks dave

[John K Jordan]

where this is mostly on my property is a stand of young I think it is called blackjack gum. some range from about 3 inches at the choke to maybe 5 inches in the non-choked area. I will look into this further, thanks dave

Wow, yours are much bigger than most of what I've seen here!

JKJ

[Dale Winburn]

I found and turned this piece of osage orange in 2011. The piece is 6 1/2 inches high and 3 1/2 inches in diameter. There is almost 2 1/2 turns (twists) from top to bottom. The piece of twisted osage orange was in the burn pile when I found it, at first I ignored it, then decided to give it another look. The piece was mostly hollow on the inside. The piece was turned to final shape and thickness while green, it was interesting turning and hollowing the piece, I just let the wood dictate the final shape.

[Jay Mullins]

I haven't seen any trees with honey suckle vines wrapped around the trunk, but I do have a pine tree about 6 inches in dia. that had wild grape vines growing around it. This small tree is slated to be removed in a few days along with a few other scrub saplings. I think I'll give it a try and see what I can make. I'll photograph it, before and after and welcome comments.
Jay

[ALAN HOLLAR]

20 years ago Lloyd Sumner did a whole series of turned open spirals from vine choke wood. Striking and challenging to do.