Has anyone turned Madrone (Madrona)? This is not the burl. I got some very
nice Madrone, bib enough for some bowls, from a friend in Tacoma. I am
curious about other turner's experience with it.

Bob Darrah
West Linn, Oregon

Madrone, or Arbutus as it's known north of the 49th can be challenging
to work with.
Some will state that it is one of the worst timbers for misbehaving,
that is, doing as it wishes rather then what you'd like it to.
I tend to be one of that "some"
--
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Regards,
James Barley.
www.members.shaw.ca/jbarley

Bob Darrah wrote:
Has anyone turned Madrone (Madrona)? This is not the burl. I got some very
nice Madrone, bib enough for some bowls, from a friend in Tacoma. I am
curious about other turner's experience with it.

Bob Darrah
West Linn, Oregon

Unfortunately Madrone is very hard to work with. Your best bet would be to
just send it back up here to me (near Tacoma).

Actually, I have turned it green, dry, spalted, wane edged, and any other
way that I can get it on the lathe. I enjoy working with it but it is a bit
interesting in that it will move once you are done if it is green.

I find that sharp tools are a must. It takes a great finish.

It is much easier to work with than scotch broom.

Brian

Brian,
I have turned all sizes of Madrone. It works wonderfully with sharp
tools when green. Rough it out to 10% wall thickness (10" equals 1"
wall) cut the tenon in the bottom for gripping with a chuck. Then
boil the blank in a pot for two hours. Gorilla glue will seperate in
the boiling water so don't try a glue block. Let it sit it the water
until the water cools to room temperature. Then take it out and let
the blank dry. If you get surface mold, wipe the surface with a 5:1
dilution of bleach. When it has dried sufficeintly, return the blank
to lathe and it finishes up as a beautiful bowl. I've also turned to
final thickness before boiling but the piece will go 'oval' on you.
Good luck. If you don't want it I'll be glad to take it.
Roger

I'm just a newbie with my lathe, and I'm using Madrona for practice wood. I
find it turns very easily, I'm getting great results and a clean finish.
The problem I've got is that madrona cracks when drying - frequently and
deeply. Of course, that may be because I'm getting my wood from the
firewood pile. But just as an example, a quartered round, turned to 3" and
maybe a foot long, had at least one deep check in each end, and maybe 3" of
length that wasn't split. This is wood that was cut and split green a year
ago.

Personally, I don't care because I'm throwing the finished turning back on
the wood pile, and I'm not attempting large-diameter stuff. Still working
on getting my beads even. :-)

"Bob Darrah" wrote in message
...
Has anyone turned Madrone (Madrona)? This is not the burl. I got some very
nice Madrone, bib enough for some bowls, from a friend in Tacoma. I am
curious about other turner's experience with it.

Bob Darrah
West Linn, Oregon