I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

-Doug

--
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples
then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these
ideas,then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 14:27:08 -0700, Doug Winterburn
wrote:

I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

-Doug



acacia is a large family with wood with very different properties. a
lot of them have very pretty wood, a lot of them are also unstable.
cit it to length and slab it as soon as possible and seal the ends
thoroughly.

I got a boomerang made of acacia when I was in Australia last year (at least
that's what the guy said). Relatively useless knowledge to you, but I think
it's interesting ...

ws

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 14:27:08 -0700, Doug Winterburn
wrote:

I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

-Doug



acacia is a large family with wood with very different properties. a
lot of them have very pretty wood, a lot of them are also unstable.
cit it to length and slab it as soon as possible and seal the ends
thoroughly.

Koa is an acacia, so at least one species is suitable. Also, I've seen
"black acacia" sold on online lumber sites as well.

-jbb


"Doug Winterburn" wrote in message
news
I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

-Doug

--
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples
then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these
ideas,then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw

Doug Winterburn wrote:

I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

Well, God told Moses to use it for the Ark of the Covenant--I don't think
you'll find a higher recommendation than that

Of course there's about a zillion species of acacia--don't know if yours is
the same variety that Moses used.

-Doug

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Doug Winterburn wrote...

Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

I turned some (green) this past summer to see what it was like. Seeing as
how you and I live pretty close to each other, I'll guess that we're
talking about similar species.

On my sample, the heartwood (very dark and pretty, BTW) was significantly
harder than the white sapwood. However, the pith was very soft and
spongy. My turning was from a whole branch, and I got into the pith in a
couple places where the turning was narrow. That pretty much ruined the
turning.

Looking at the woodpile where the rest of the larger pieces went, I see
some moderate checking on the ends, but no bad splits. This has been
drying since May. All of it is under four inches in diameter, and none
was waxed, as it is intended for firewood.

That bodes pretty well as far a movement goes. I suspect lumber taken
carefully from larger stock would turn very nicely, green or dry. And
that sealed and dried properly, the lumber would make a pretty box or
other small project.

Jim

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 02:53:39 +0000, Jim Wilson wrote:


That bodes pretty well as far a movement goes. I suspect lumber taken
carefully from larger stock would turn very nicely, green or dry. And that
sealed and dried properly, the lumber would make a pretty box or other
small project.

Thanks Jim. I'll get it whacked up and ready. Now, all I hafta figure
out is where to store it.

-Doug

--
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples
then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these
ideas,then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 22:44:48 -0400, J. Clarke wrote:

Well, God told Moses to use it for the Ark of the Covenant--I don't think
you'll find a higher recommendation than that

Of course there's about a zillion species of acacia--don't know if yours
is the same variety that Moses used.

For a while during that storm, I thought an ark (Noah's type) might be a
good idea! Never before in AZ have I seen hailstones 1.5" in diameter. It
was raining/hailing so hard (horizontally) that the visibility was down to
less than 100 yards, and went on for over an hour.

-Doug

--
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples
then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these
ideas,then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw

Doug Winterburn wrote in
news
I had an acacia tree come down last night in a monsoon storm. Snapped it
off about 1' below grade! The biggest part is about 12" in diameter.
Anyone worked with this stuff to know if it is worth saving for lumber
or turning?

-Doug


My woodturning friends are nuts about black acacia. They love to turn it
when it's green. Makes really nice pieces.

Patriarch