Ekki...is it is, or is it isn't!

[Bryan Milham]

Les,

you are right, all it would prove it was heavier than water, but it's a start to check if your customer has anything like what he thinks he has.

Strangely there are many woods that are heavier than water, many of them from are from Australia.

People see it all the time, but it never registers, look in the bottom of many fish tanks, there is a lump of wood, sat on the bottom with fish swimming around it.

[seventhdevil]

those are often resin logs bryan.


i don't know if it's true or not but i once read that 90% of native jamaican timbers will sink.


i reckon if i put my mind to it i could come up with well over 100 species that sink.

[seventhdevil]

 i'll take the corner cut on the bandsaw.

My Startrite bandsaw is awaiting conversion to single-phase, so I'm using a little bench-top saw for a while....you can have a chain-saw-cut corner.
This is a one-off, the customer was given just the one piece.

Les

thanks les, i'll take that sample then.

if you create a bowl from it would you mind sending me a copy of the raw image so i can send it to eric at the wood database.

i'll ask him to credit you as the turner.

[Bryan Milham]

those are often resin logs bryan.

Steve,  They are not. I used to rescue them from thrown away fishtanks at the council dump.

Used them as bases for interesting arrangements. This is the last one I did a couple of years ago, I've got 2 lumps left, one too small to do much with, one huge one that might hold 4 or 5 small turnings. Still pondering it.

And don't look at the price of them in aquaria shops, they are silly prices.

[Les Symonds]

Fine bit of turning on that finial, Bryan.

[seventhdevil]

oh, fair enough.

i've seen hollow ones made from resin but i guess they are for larger tanks.



any idea as to the species that are real wood bryan?

[Les Symonds]

I managed to get a little more background info about this piece of timber. My customer bought it from a friend. The friend bought it 15 years ago to use it as a beam, but didn't, so has sold off pieces for turning. The friend had been told, when he bought it, that it was Ekki, from Asia.....which should immediately ring alarm bells, as Ekki is from Africa!
Les

[seventhdevil]

well asia could help narrow it down a bit. any idea what part of asia? it's a big place.

[Les Symonds]

well asia could help narrow it down a bit. any idea what part of asia? it's a big place.

Given that all of the other info that we got was spurious, I don't think that I'd be too inclined to believe that it is from Asia.

Les

[seventhdevil]

good point les.

i've been in touch with a guy who knows even more about identifying wood than me and he thinks he's got it. he's not told me yet as he is double checking first so i might have some news soon.

please keep all corners you cut off that block les and ask your customer if he could get anymore from his friend?


i was thinking today that it could be in the xylia genus as there is a wood called pyinkado (xylia xylocarpa) and some pics i've seen are very similar but the weight and the lack of smell don't quite tally up.

[Les Symonds]

I give in....this wood has beaten me. The surface checking is rampant, and once I started turning I could see that it's running throughout the piece, to a good 3cm deep all over. It is exceptionally hard and just about the only way that I can cut it is to take a fine shearing cut with the long edge of a long-grind bowl gouge, but the edge of the tool dulls immediately and needs resharpening after just 2 passes. Even my Simon Hope solid carbide cutters won't cope with it....they give a terrible finish and show signs of losing their edge after 4 or 5 passes.
Moisture content, measured about 3 cm in from the surface (after I'd cut a corner off) was 16%, so it's supposedly a good mc for working, yet it doesn't give shavings, just dust everywhere. When a fine cut can be made, the surface feels oily and looks shiny. Drilling with HSS twist drills just clogs the flutes up, instantly, and they need picking out after every couple of millimetres of drilling.
I wore a full-face air-fed mask while I was cutting it, but just the residual dust in the air of the workshop (despite the filter and dust extractor being on) caused sneezing, a sore throat and a dull head-ache.

It's the first time that a piece of wood has beaten me......but I know when to give up. My customer can have it back!





Les

[seventhdevil]

you can send it to me if you like les. i know how to tackle these rock hard timbers. i've been turning this angelim stuff and your wood seems very similar to me.

if the customer is ok with sending it to me then pva the endgrain for transport purposes please.
don't forget the corners you saved for me.



let me know if that's ok by the customer.