Shadrach's Lamps

[Shadrach]

That's most of the bumps taken care of.
I'm thinking about defining the tulip shape.

This is okay. Interesting grain that doesn't show up well in the picture.

More or less okay with this as well now.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with the knot.

This is rather nice, but again, doesn't show up well in the picture.

 

[Shadrach]

Left to right. Cherry, Almond, White Oak.
All these woods split easily when drying from green unless the ends are sealed.
Here the old school woodworkers used to tar the ends and dry lifted off the ground and covered with plant foliage which was kept slightly damp. There is a real art to drying wood in this way and from cut to dry enough to work without much further wood movement takes two to three years!
The White Oak is a relatively new wood for me. I've done one lamp with it and it came out quite well. The piece in the picture is very white and not quite dry enough to work yet.

Almond. Tough rather than hard. Correctly cut and stored it can make nice furniture wood. I've done a couple of pieces in Almond. The heart wood is lovely but getting a section of sufficient diameter to just have heart wood for a carving or lamp is unusual.

Olive. Lots of people love Olive wood. I've done a couple of pieces in this wood but ideally you need a large diameter piece and work into the heart wood. It's tough rather than hard bet fairly easy to work with. The main problem I have with it is the textures and shades change rapidly as you work into the wood. So, it's great for bowls and spoons etc where the shades are not really important. For art work and lamps no matter what you do to it, it just looks like a piece of Olive wood. It's too distinctive for the styles I'm interested in.

Cork Oak. My favorite wood. It's very hard and when it goes wrong it tends to break off in chunks. Second best for a polished finish. First is Strawbeey Tree.
My last post above is Strawberry Tree. What I love about Cork Oak is the colours and patterns in the wood. They start early in the wood on many pieces I've used and this means you get interesting features most of the way through the piece. Unfortunately you also get major defects right the way through. I've scrapped more Cork Oak than any other wood. Get a good bit and with very sharp tools, there is nothing quite like it imo.

Cork Oak. The texture on the back is what Cork Oak looks like when the cork is stripped off. Most of the pieces I do with a tree engraved into the wood are made with Cork Oak. I love the darkness of the wood.

Forgot. This is Apple. Not tried it before.

 

[Ribh]

I remember speaking with a harp~maker about the different timbers he used & why. They each have different properties. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

 

[MaryJanet]

Isn't it interesting. The neighbour has been making toys lately from various bits of wood. He uses different types for different colours. I'll ask him more about it now Shad's made me interested.

 

[BY Bob]

I love this kind of information. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Think of all those almond trees that I hope went to good use.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Left to right. Cherry, Almond, White Oak.
All these woods split easily when drying from green unless the ends are sealed.
Here the old school woodworkers used to tar the ends and dry lifted off the ground and covered with plant foliage which was kept slightly damp. There is a real art to drying wood in this way and from cut to dry enough to work without much further wood movement takes two to three years!
The White Oak is a relatively new wood for me. I've done one lamp with it and it came out quite well. The piece in the picture is very white and not quite dry enough to work yet.

View attachment 2544726
Almond. Tough rather than hard. Correctly cut and stored it can make nice furniture wood. I've done a couple of pieces in Almond. The heart wood is lovely but getting a section of sufficient diameter to just have heart wood for a carving or lamp is unusual.
View attachment 2544727
Olive. Lots of people love Olive wood. I've done a couple of pieces in this wood but ideally you need a large diameter piece and work into the heart wood. It's tough rather than hard bet fairly easy to work with. The main problem I have with it is the textures and shades change rapidly as you work into the wood. So, it's great for bowls and spoons etc where the shades are not really important. For art work and lamps no matter what you do to it, it just looks like a piece of Olive wood. It's too distinctive for the styles I'm interested in.
View attachment 2544728
Cork Oak. My favorite wood. It's very hard and when it goes wrong it tends to break off in chunks. Second best for a polished finish. First is Strawbeey Tree.
My last post above is Strawberry Tree. What I love about Cork Oak is the colours and patterns in the wood. They start early in the wood on many pieces I've used and this means you get interesting features most of the way through the piece. Unfortunately you also get major defects right the way through. I've scrapped more Cork Oak than any other wood. Get a good bit and with very sharp tools, there is nothing quite like it imo.
View attachment 2544729
Cork Oak. The texture on the back is what Cork Oak looks like when the cork is stripped off. Most of the pieces I do with a tree engraved into the wood are made with Cork Oak. I love the darkness of the wood.
View attachment 2544730
Forgot. This is Apple. Not tried it before.
View attachment 2544731

Thanks for posting this Shad. Wood is endlessly fascinating with it's different colours, grains, hardness and textures.

 

[Shadrach]

Not quite finished. A lot more work than I anticipated when I started for the second attempt.

 

[RoyalChick]

Not quite finished. A lot more work than I anticipated when I started for the second attempt.
View attachment 2547189View attachment 2547190View attachment 2547191View attachment 2547192View attachment 2547193

It is beautiful Shad. One of your best!

 

[ronott1]

Not quite finished. A lot more work than I anticipated when I started for the second attempt.
View attachment 2547189View attachment 2547190View attachment 2547191View attachment 2547192View attachment 2547193

It has Character!

It is coming along nicely even if it is taking more time than expected

 

[Shadrach]

I mentioned a while back that someone had asked me to make a bowl. They wanted something basic but unusual. Course, everybody knows bowls are round. Even my lamps aren't round!
I should also point out the nobody playing with a full deck would even consider trying to make a bowl out of Cork Wood. And definitley nobody would try and cut a bowl along the grain rather than into the end grain.
What can I tel you.
So here we have it a piece of Cork Oak with just about every defect known to man; or women if you're feeling a bit PC atm.
This piece has splits, knots, peeling layers. I only have to look at it and a bit falls off. It's also as hard a rock!
This is an old piece of wood. At least two years old and hopefully it has finished wandering about as went from green to dry.
I chip away at it in between rather more sensible projects. I think I'm going to carve a tree in the bowl. I can't help it. I see a bit of Cork Oak and all I can think about is little black trees. I have gone for some therapy but they say there isn't anything they can do for me and ask what drugs I've been taking.
The basic idea is that you can stand it up as shown in the first picture as a sort of sculpture when not in use.