Banksia tips anyone?

Give them away - they seem to be too much of an uphill battle - I think it is better to grab a chunk of wood to turn, as it is more familiar and more versitile - in my book, the Banksia pod is not worth the price or the headache.

Ray

I treat them like hard wood and burls that have voids in them. I turn the speed up a couple of hundred rpms higher than I normally would (but within safety limits) and use shearing cuts. They are, by no means, as tough to turn as many exotic woods. They're tough to get very sharp edges with so I tend to just let them have more rounded edges.

I have no problem with my Oneway Talon chuck when hollowing them out. I would worry about the screw chuck holding well with all of those voids throughout the pod.

I use a scraper hollowing tool on these as I do most woods. I've not tried a hook tool to hollow out. I just use a skew and the occasional deep and shallow fluted (bowl and spindle gouges to some) gouge as needed on the outside too. As you said, these pods are pretty hard so it takes a bit more to hollow out than a piece of maple. I like hollowing these things out as you can see your tool position through the voids and the shavings (more like just dust) fly out on their own for the most part. I don't hollow these things very thin either.

These pods are just hard and create a lot of dust and fuzz. Nothing out of the ordinary if you're used to turning hard woods or burls. They have no grain so tearout isn't much of a problem.

- Andrew

Ray,

I did a thorough search for "The Banksia Pod" by Ray Sandusky and couldn't even come up with a notification of "out of print". Whose the publisher? "G"

Lewis

Lewis

The person who posted this request also posted another a few days ago - thus I figured that he was having too much trouble in figuring them out and advised him to give them away as he had no idea of what to do with them - I on the other hand have never been tempted to ask what I need to do with them as I have never taken the cash out of my pocket to buy them.

If one wants to use these, I say, "have at it!" I'd rather turn wood - in fact, I'd rather turn wood than do a lot of other things!

Ray

AHilton helped out with: [ snip.... much about Banksia turning]

Thanks. I can see I'm going to need to treat them with some respect!

My experience so far has been restricted to softish softwoods and a few bits of Beech, Mahogany, Oak and Dunno wood. Certainly nothing remotely exotic.

Thanks again,

Steve

Steve Bak wrote in news:40b3c1d7$1 snipped-for-privacy@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com:

Respect? I think I'd rather turn a block of Goodyear rubber, than face another Banksia.

Bought two. Turned the first one one hot summer day on the old Shopsmith. Hunched over that thing for quite a while. Came out of the shop with a very nicely finished weed pot, but I looked like an Orangutan that had tangled with the wrong end of a weedeater. What with being hunched over from that dang Shopsmith, being hot and sweaty and orange fuzz sticking all over me, and the nicks and cuts all over my arms from the bits of seed ejected from the pod. I was pretty inexperienced at the time, but turning a piece of *wood* was not beyond me. But oh my. what a pretty finish. If you cannot be dissuaded from turning them, you might want to consider filling the seed holes with Inlace, a soft metal, or similar. I've seen some pictures of very nice work done that way.

My other pod? It still lurks in the shop. If we happen to see each other, we each just look the other way and go about our business.

How much do you pay for Banksia Nuts in the USA? They can be puchase here for US$1.00

Les Canberra Australia

I don't know the price in US but here in Canada we pay around $6 to $8 Canadian

Les Fortescue wrote:

Around $7 to $10 US here in the Midwest USA. Planning to import them?

- Andrew

I picked up as many as I could carry a while ago, most weighed over 1 kg each, while getting some woody-pear which was donated to the club. Free.

Alan in beautiful Golden Bay, Western Oz, South 32.25.42, East 115.45.44 GMT+8 VK6 YAB ICQ 6581610 to reply, change oz to au in address

Are there any good jobs in Oz for American computer programmers/woodturners? I love Aussie woods and would consider moving there if all the woods were that cheap! I'd even bring along some native American species to trade!

;-)