Has anyone out there done anything with lilac? We had some heavy
straight-line winds roar through here Sunday night, and our neighbor
lost a 60-year-old lilac about 6" in diameter. I was cutting it up to
dispose of it for him when I saw that it had the most amazing reddish
purple rings. I managed to salvage about 5' of reasonably straight wood,
and I've tucked it away for the day when I finally buy a bandsaw :-)

(I have no idea what I'll do with it, but maybe I can make some small
boxes or use it for inlay or pen blanks or something. It just seemed too
interesting to toss out.)

Darin

P.S. I just did a quick Google on "lilac wood", and it turns out I could
make myself a Wand of Enraptu

http://www.autumnspath.com/the%20limited%20wand.htm

Do you suppose there's a huge market for these things? (I sure hope not.
Not to make fun of another's belief system, of course :-P

Darin states:


Has anyone out there done anything with lilac? We had some heavy
straight-line winds roar through here Sunday night, and our neighbor
lost a 60-year-old lilac about 6" in diameter. I was cutting it up to
dispose of it for him when I saw that it had the most amazing reddish
purple rings. I managed to salvage about 5' of reasonably straight wood,
and I've tucked it away for the day when I finally buy a bandsaw :-)

(I have no idea what I'll do with it, but maybe I can make some small
boxes or use it for inlay or pen blanks or something. It just seemed too
interesting to toss out.)

The good news: Lilac is said to be easy to work, polishes nicely, turns and
carves well. Color is gorgeous. Good for jewelry, candle holders, small turned
items. Close grained and medium density, basically yellow-cream color with
purple steaks.

The bad news: Difficult to season without checking.

Recommended seasoning method (Useful Woods of The World): split down the center
(lengthwise), remove bark, wax ends, air dry very slowly.

Sounds like a fine wood, but my wife will kill me if I take out any of hers,
all of which are under 2" in diameter anyway.

Charlie Self
"In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence
is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of
office." Ambrose Bierce

Lilac is wonderful stuff. It's beautiful and works & finishes
beautifully. Its one fault is that it is very prone to splitting. If I
were you, I'd get it to someone's bandsaw immediately. Slice it & then
seal all surfaces - then wait till completely dry. It will be worth
it.

you seem to have found the info.. one comment: if you leave it unfinished
for a bit after you make something, the purplish color will turn a beutiful
deep purply brown..

As for making a "wand of enrapture", if I could get folks to pay me $60 for
a twig with some carving on it, I'd be cranking them out faster than
spit.....

--JD



"darin-N O S P A M-nntp2" "darin-N O S P A wrote
in message ...
Has anyone out there done anything with lilac? We had some heavy
straight-line winds roar through here Sunday night, and our neighbor
lost a 60-year-old lilac about 6" in diameter. I was cutting it up to
dispose of it for him when I saw that it had the most amazing reddish
purple rings. I managed to salvage about 5' of reasonably straight wood,
and I've tucked it away for the day when I finally buy a bandsaw :-)

(I have no idea what I'll do with it, but maybe I can make some small
boxes or use it for inlay or pen blanks or something. It just seemed too
interesting to toss out.)

Darin

P.S. I just did a quick Google on "lilac wood", and it turns out I could
make myself a Wand of Enraptu

http://www.autumnspath.com/the%20limited%20wand.htm

Do you suppose there's a huge market for these things? (I sure hope not.
Not to make fun of another's belief system, of course :-P

Feel free to attack any mainstream belief you care to in this forum. You'll
find lots of support.

Best to invest in that bandsaw now, as lilac is worse than apple for
honeycombing and splitting.

"darin-N O S P A M-nntp2" "darin-N O S P A wrote
in message ...
Has anyone out there done anything with lilac?

I managed to salvage about 5' of reasonably straight wood,
and I've tucked it away for the day when I finally buy a bandsaw :-)

http://www.autumnspath.com/the%20limited%20wand.htm

Do you suppose there's a huge market for these things? (I sure hope not.
Not to make fun of another's belief system, of course :-P

"darin-N O S P A M-nntp2" "darin-N O S P A wrote in message ...

Do you suppose there's a huge market for these things?

In a couple of week's time, I'm working the bank-holiday weekend as
shop assistant in a travelling Wand Shop at a biggish LARP
(role-playing) event. Amongst the LARPers, there is indeed a market
for finely crafted wands. Custom woodwork or ironwork for sale too.

I'll also be in costume. I'm not yet sure what as, but this may be a
rare chance to see me wearing a kimono in daylight....

If you're at the Heartland Games, say hi to the guy with the
collapsible plywood throne.

On Thu, 13 May 2004 07:43:06 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:

Feel free to attack any mainstream belief you care to in this forum. You'll
find lots of support.


yep. that's the problem with people nowadays. they go around
*believing* stuff just because somebody told them so, or because their
great aunt bessy believed it or something.

when are they gonna get it; *Nothing* is true....

Bridger responds:

Feel free to attack any mainstream belief you care to in this forum. You'll
find lots of support.


yep. that's the problem with people nowadays. they go around
*believing* stuff just because somebody told them so, or because their
great aunt bessy believed it or something.

when are they gonna get it; *Nothing* is true....


Possibly true. Possibly not.

Charlie Self
"In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence
is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of
office." Ambrose Bierce

In article ,
"darin-N O S P A M-nntp2" "darin-N O S P A
wrote:
We had one fairly rotten fall down hear, about 5 inches across. it makes
very nice bowls when turned cross grain, and finishes very easily. end
grain looks neat too, but not as neat as cross grain IMHO.
it also seems to have random pockets of very soft and spongy material,
depending on the size they can make interesting holes, or make the whole
thing fly apart.
I also found that it doesn't glue particularly well, and if your going
to turn it and glue it to a block, turn it asap after gluing up.
I think it must be pretty oily, but it smells beautiful when worked with
tools that get it warm.
It does have a tendency to split as other mentioned, but my chunks were
a couple of 2 ft sections, and the splits all seemed to e radial splits
on the outside.
It didn't seem to warp much as it dried, YMMV with this.
the crotch's are especially nice, the purple and greens all interweave
and its very beatiful, looks best with a penetrating oil(like tung) and
lacqure over top, then polished with wax. the oil brought out some
patterns that were very faint, and the lacqure seems to make the purples
look brighter then with a polyurethane, or just wax over top of the oil.

P.S. sorry for rambling.
Has anyone out there done anything with lilac? We had some heavy
straight-line winds roar through here Sunday night, and our neighbor
lost a 60-year-old lilac about 6" in diameter. I was cutting it up to
dispose of it for him when I saw that it had the most amazing reddish
purple rings. I managed to salvage about 5' of reasonably straight wood,
and I've tucked it away for the day when I finally buy a bandsaw :-)

(I have no idea what I'll do with it, but maybe I can make some small
boxes or use it for inlay or pen blanks or something. It just seemed too
interesting to toss out.)

Darin

P.S. I just did a quick Google on "lilac wood", and it turns out I could
make myself a Wand of Enraptu

http://www.autumnspath.com/the%20limited%20wand.htm

Do you suppose there's a huge market for these things? (I sure hope not.
Not to make fun of another's belief system, of course :-P

--
God may have made the flowers, but the devil pollinates them.
-Amanita Private Dancer

Maybe I'm just a pessimist and am totally wrong; I could live quite
happily with that.
-SATAN

In article ,
wrote:
On Thu, 13 May 2004 07:43:06 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:

Feel free to attack any mainstream belief you care to in this forum. You'll
find lots of support.


yep. that's the problem with people nowadays. they go around
*believing* stuff just because somebody told them so, or because their
great aunt bessy believed it or something.

when are they gonna get it; *Nothing* is true....

Aup. not even _that_ statement. evil grin

On Wed, 19 May 2004 19:14:33 +0000,
(Robert Bonomi) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
On Thu, 13 May 2004 07:43:06 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:

Feel free to attack any mainstream belief you care to in this forum. You'll
find lots of support.


yep. that's the problem with people nowadays. they go around
*believing* stuff just because somebody told them so, or because their
great aunt bessy believed it or something.

when are they gonna get it; *Nothing* is true....

Aup. not even _that_ statement. evil grin





whew. for a while there I thought nobody was gonna get it....