Anyone have experience turning Magnolia?

Having a large magnolia tree in the front lawn, I burn a LOT of branch wood every year...

Since it's been too warm for a fire lately, i saw a stack of freshly cut "twigs" and put one on the lathe out of curiosity.. couldn't have been more than 1 1/2" diameter and off the tree a week..

It seemed to turn ok and was very white.. didn't sand very well, but it was green.. *lol*

Anyway, I did a few spindles to decorate the kindling pile and turned a few foot long sections for "blanks for something", which I put in paper bags..

I've been watching the spindles in the kindling pile for 3 or 4 days now and so far no splitting or obvious warping.. weird..

Is this a common thing with magnolia, or did I just pick a lucky couple of branches?? If I turn green plum, almond, pine, etc. and don't immediately bag it, it's cracked badly by the next morning..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis
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Hi Mac

I have three magnolia bowls in process right now. I have not noticed a whole lot of difference in the wood from other species with one notable exception. Since this is the first time I have ever turned magnolia, I have no idea whether it is this particular tree, or magnolia in general, but the wood has the distinct smell of rotting fish. I don't mean just a whiff either, I mean strong enough to turn my stomach while turning. If this were not a commission job from customer supplied wood, it would be in the burn pile for sure.

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

I used to live on the Texas Gulf Coast and worked a fair amount of magnolia: the dead fish smell is not, in my experience, normal - even with stuff that I kept warm and damp to induce spalting. Mac's observation about sanding is correct, the stuff tends to be on the fuzzy side. IIRC, reversing during sanding helped some, but the woood did require more patience than most.

Kip Powers Rogers, AR

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Kip

Reply to
David Wade

Don't know what is going on there. I live in Texas and we have a lot of Magnolia. It is fun to turn green and has all sorts of surprises sometimes hidden in the wood. Seems stable with proper technique and care after turning.

Never yet has it stunk. Maybe it isn't Magnolia.... possible?

It becomes hard and brittle after drying, and tends to be difficult to turn.

Robert

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Kip and Robert

Thanks for your replies. I see both of you refer to TX magnolia. I am in eastern PA, and even if it is the same species, growing conditions are going to be different. It is not a wood that I encounter often, and it does not have a lot of interest in it, at least compared to what I am used to with all the maple, cherry and walnut we have here, but I would give it another try if I get the chance - holding my nose just in case!

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

One thing to consider here is that there are two basic types of magnolia. The type that is usually found where Bill and I live is deciduous (looses its leaves each fall). I don't know where Mac lives but those turners in Texas, California and other southern locals may be turning the evergreen type. I have turned some of the deciduous but never the evergreen. That may make a difference. The magnolia I have turned had some bad smell but not as bad as Bill's. My experience with the wood is the same as the others here. Its fuzzy turned green, dries fairly stable and starts turning brown in the log pretty quick. Tony Manella

Reply to
tony manella

Bill.. no fish smell here, either.. I have to point out that there are a LOT of types of Magnolia... We tried to find out what type ours was a few years ago.. the more we looked into it, the more confusing it got...

If it helps, we're in central Calif. and the type of magnolia here are the ones that are typically trimmed to the "lollypop" or "ball on a stick" look.. about

40' high and has leaves all year..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

thanks, David... since we're near Fresno, there's a chance that it was the same species of magnolia..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Mac, nothing around here keeps its leaves all year round except conifers, andI don't turn that stuff. ;-) Of course, there is tulip magnolia, comonly called poplar, and I turn a lot of that. If people don't mind what they get and are on a tight budget, I suggest poplar. If they are on a budget and picky, then I suggest tulip magnolia.

The varieties of magnolia remind me of trying to find out what kind of ash I got a while back. I did not get to see any leaves, and I am not sure it would have helped. I narrowed it down to - get this - black ash, white ash, BLUE ash, green ash, and of all things Oregon ash, all common in PA according to the book I had!

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

Hi Tony

This stuff turned pretty smoothly for me and it was very wet when I started. It is drying out now, and I really hope that fish smell goes away. BTW, I got an envelope from you yesterday - thanks for the note too!

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

Hi Mac

I have turned magnolia, I also have a "large" magnolia on my front lawn, of course large by the standard of the magnolias that are able to survive up here, and that is probably not the same one as yours.

Depending on who you believe, there are something like 100 to 200 species in the world, shrubs are included in these numbers. There are about 10 native tree species in North America, if you include the Anise tree and the yellow poplar, and al kinds of hybrids.

The one I have is the saucer magnolia, and the wood is very light colored, and soft, turned ok, and I used it with the bark on for some Christmas tree birdhouse ornaments, didn't have any crack on me. People must have liked them, they sold every one of them, except the one my LOML kept for our tree.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

mac davis wrote:

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

yep.. sort of like defining the species of oak or pine... or fur?? we're about to head for the nearby forest and hunt turning and firewood.. mostly pine and fir, with some redwood and sequoia.. The price is right, though... the permit was $60 and good for 10 cords.. lol

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

that sounds a lot like this wood, Leo... of course, I only have small stuff from pruning it, but I played around and made

4 or 5 bench pegs tonight.. *g*

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Boy, would I love to get a permit like that here! There are some state game lands just about five miles from my parent's home, where I grew up. In fact, I used to spend lots of time back there swimming at a great swimming hole when I was a kid. But they are fairly stuffed with wild cherry trees, and virtually every tree is covered with burls, some huge - like they would take two men and a boy to carry off. Lots of these trees fall every year, but touching the wood is verboten. Every time I drive by I think of the operational difficulties of obtaining some of this wood. I would need black ninja pajamas, night vision goggles, spotters with radios located several hundred yards away in each direction of the road (so I could turn the saw off if a car came along), and a place to park the truck out of sight. Maybe we should organize something from our club! Of course with my luck, some bureaucrat from the state is going to read this and think I am serious. The next DVD will be filmed on how to make license plates on the lathe!

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

It's good to see your posts here again. I hope you two will be 'bring backs' for other accomplished turners who were 'turned off'. No amnesty needed! :)

I continue to believe that there is a place for a news group type woodturning forum.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Arch

I don't know for sure, though I suspect that the permit is for "gathering," as it is here. Tops from logging and deadfall. Cutting? Verboten.

Reply to
George

Yeah, we've been thinking about getting one for years, for camping firewood.. now we can also go "blank hunting" The permit is good until August and covers a lot of the 2 local parks, Kings Canyon & Sequoia... fallen wood only, clean up your own mess, etc...

Oh.. I bought another copy of your DVD today for one of my kid's birthday..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

IF it is Southern Magnolia, all you will get is a dead white bowl with about as much interest as Black Gum.

IF, on the other hand, it is Japanese Magnolia (especially the root ball) it is wonderful stuff to turn and comes out looking like old ivory with nice grain patterns.

Learned this the hard way. Still have a lot of Southern Magnolia lying around. Got it before I realized there was a difference.

Deb

Reply to
Dr. Deb

Hi Bill, Magnolia does turn nice when wet, dry its a little difficult but not too bad. Again sorry the envelope took so long. Tony

Reply to
tony manella

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