Banksia

never turned this stuff and do not know anything about the species

is it really a tree or a bush

was it dry or still moist

at times like that i come up with a plan b

what that is depends

i might take a torch and scorch it then sand it then coat it with a poly

Tree, the source of those Banksia seed pods that appear in woodturner's supply shops.

Dry!

I e-mailed the President of the West Australian woodturners soc and she told me that it is difficult to turn and that my experience was quite normal. Graham

what did the president of the east australian woodturners soc say

sandblasting might also be another option or have you resigned to gifting it quick look shows them as evergreen shrubs and trees might also turn better with a better result when turned green

I doubt that I'll ever find another piece. This blank came from a long-defunct woodturning supply store in the UK. I'm now turning some Manitoba Maple burl and practising my deep hollow turning technique.

It's actually imported quite a bit for wood-turning

I tried it once, like you I didn't like and will pass on any future opportunities

I think you will find they are actually quite common. I think I've seen them at "Axminster Power tools" and also at Yandles

But not the wood from the Banksia tree!

never know for example suppose the customs people dumped that bad unfumigated batch out back the customs house

while they were busy imprt and exporting the seeds took hold

is it really from manitoba

i saw some wood recently and they used a common name including the united states place name but the wood was shipped from east europe

We call it Manitoba Maple but the other name is Box Elder. It's Acer negundo. Graham

Apologies for reading your post too quickly and missing that.

Mention of the "long-defunct woodturning supply store in the UK." made me think you were in the UK.

It was Craft Supplies that used to be in Derbyshire, Millers Dale IIRC. I am English and visit the UK annually to see relatives and friends.

Where ?????? NSW, Queensland ?

They are as far away from WA as San Diego is to New York.

It takes about 1 & 1/2 days driving travelling east just to get out of WA which is about 1/3 of Australia.

Banksia is a Western Australian timber, as is Jarrah, Marri, Karri and Sheoak. I think I have about 4 Banksia pods out in my shed and only have to go out in the bush to get more. I prefer Sheoak and Jarrah.

Alan

I have some pods but this was a piece of wood. The bowl I turned is surprisingly heavy. I hope to visit WA next January and perhaps pick up the odd bowl blank - but not in Banskia wood! Graham

so it is a bush

No!!!! The "bush" is the West Australian term for the eastern Aussie term "outback". Graham

a bird in the hand is worth two in the outback