Lilac for tools handles?

[Curt Harms]

I'm not a hand tool guy but seem to remember reading someplace that lilac is good for tools handles. We just cut a lilac down and I saved some pieces. Diameters around 2 3/4" and down. If lilac is indeed usable, I'll post pics in swap & sell, this would be free to a good home. Location S.E. Pennsylvania.

[Scott Winners]

I don't have any pieces that big to try. The one growing in my yard is giving up excellent BBQ wood. At my wife's urging I ran a sliced potato through the smoker on charcoal ad lilac with just olive oil and salt. The potato came out great and the one in my yard is fabulous on lamb. I don't know how many varieties there are.

[Andrew Seemann]

Lilac tends to be dense, hard, and tight grained, at least around here it is. Like any wood, it can be prone to splitting in larger pieces. I haven't turned it, but I suspect it would hold detail well. It also tends to split with fasteners, so predrillng is necessary.

The old man liked to make things out of oddball woods like lilac, buckthorn, apple, honeysuckle, etc; basically stuff he found around the yard. Below is a recipe box he made for my wife. The wood is about 1/4 inch thick. The bushes were from the house I grew up in. Lilac doesn't get very big, so the widest pieces are about an inch or so. Sometimes you can get them about an inch and a half wide, but usually not wider than that, as it tends to cup across the center grain, and the trunks start to center rot when they get much bigger than about 3 inches The purple color of the heartwood will fade with time and light exposure.

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[Stew Denton]

Hi Curt,

I have never seen a piece big enough to work, but we have some of the bushes bordering part of our yard. The bushes have tons of sprouts, so these are not single stem bushes. None-the-less, we have been in this house more than 27 years, and the biggest stem I found is a little over an inch in diameter, perhaps. Bushes were likely at least 10 years old when we moved into the house. The plants go slowly in our dry country, especially if you don't prune back the sprouts.

I can say this, however, I have had to prune back dead stems at times, and need to do it again, but the dead stems are extremely hard and tough, and a great pain to trim out, even with a lopper.

Reading a little about the wood in the wood database, it does confirm my thoughts after trying to prune it. It is a very hard wood. The wood database adds that it is prone to splitting and warping on drying. Thus, you should probably quarter sections and treat the ends with either wax or something like one of the Anchorseal products to minimize the splitting and warping.

According to the wood database, it is a very hard dense wood with fine grain and some interlocking properties. Due to it's typical small sized pieces, it is often used for small turning projects.

If the pieces you have are large enough, it sounds like it would make pretty good tool handles. It is said to be excellent for small turnings. If I had some pieces that were large enough, I would consider it for paring chisel handles, etc.

Regards,

Stew

[Curt Harms]

I was thinking chisel handles, that sort of thing. The largest are just under 3", smaller maybe 1 1/2". They are pretty heavy - they're also freshly cut so wet - shipping larger pieces would get spendy. I'll attach some pics

[Andrew Seemann]

Those should work for chisel handles. They are about the size of what I remember we would get. Anything larger tends to have rot somewhere. In the round it tends to crack a bit, but if you can get a chisel sized piece it probably would work or else half/third/quarter one of the larger pieces and then turn that. That way you probably would get some of the purple on the sides where you can see it. It should be rather pretty and definitely unique. I wonder if I still have any laying about, that would make a nice handle for one of my handleless paring chisels.

If you have any allergy to lilac (I do) you might want to put a finish on it when you are done. Ditto for wearing a mask while turning. The dust is fine and kind of irritating.