Bringing some hardwood home for carving

In the next few months I'm going to be getting some large pieces of Madrone and Manzanita. Both were downed earlier this year.

Any carvers in the Bay Area care for some?
(By Bay Area, I mean SF bay...not Tampa, Green or Hudson)

Gigantelope,

Thanks for being so generous! What is the characteristic of this wood? I've never heard of Madrone, but we used to have some Manzanita burls at a firewood lot that I worked at way back when I was in my teens. Manzanita is a truly bitchin wood, but also could be a bitch to carve from my experience. People love the burls, or root portion, because it has a real weird shape, resembing a human brain. But it is really hard wood, and sometimes contains rocks, at least in the root portion.

I fly up to the Bay Area quite often on business, & a couple of times I drive up to see family. Can you elaborate on the wood a little? I might be interested, & if so would be glad to help with your costs obtaining the wood.

Mahalo,

Aaron

manzanitia is good for turning. I've seen it used for bowls. Beautiful wood. Don;t make it up north too much, but I'll see what happens. keep us posted on your supply.

I have not worked with either wood. The manzanita I have was from a massive tree (They are usually shrublike, so this term must be taken in context) When growing it is dark red and smooth. This particular tree always reminded me of a horses neck, with the smooth reddish brown curves. I also have access to the burl if this intrests anyone, and yes, it does often have rocks in the roots...yikes, cr'full with that chainsaw!

The Madrone looks similar, but is a larger tree. I cut some large pieces, maybe 2 feet tall, by 50-70 inches in diameter, which I hope to collect in comming weeks.

These large pieces, weighed as much as 250 pounds (green) I hope no hippies have stolen it for firewood.

I honestly don't know how they will "work" beyond that. The wood I would be getting would be either cylindrical in shape, or a "Y" from the tree's crotch

I hoped to carve a large un-cymetrical vessle from one, and use as a raised planter in the Tiki-Garden.

These particular pieces would be good for Foot-stool/end table sized tikis. THe madrone Is from my Dad's farm, which is for sale, and thus supplies are very limited. The manzanita is from my ranch, and I can get as much as I would like, but this particular tree was very large.

There is no expence, I just want people to use in a cool way.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-09-11 17:35 ]

Gigantelope, I'd love to have some, it sounds like some nice exotic wood for tikis. The next planned drive up to the Bay Area will be Thanksgiving weekend. The family lives in the Richmond area, but I could certainly make a day trip to wherever you are. Will the wood still be available? Is that to long to hold it? I'm leaning toward the Manzanita. The Madrone sounds a little too large to handle (50-70 inch diameter??!!!). I could probably pick up some for Polynesiac too if we have room in the Blazer. Thanks a lot, man! Let me know if this works for you, & believe me you'll be seeing something carved from it here on TC.

BTW - I actually tried to look up Shinola, CA on Yahoo Maps!

Shinola does exist! About 10 years back a bunch of us bought 40 acre parcels in the middle of nowhere...kind of built a town.

We chased out the local "Freelance Pharmacists" and it's for the most-part fun.

I just finished the grave yard earlier this summer. The concrete tombstones have re-bar holding them in place...I could only dig down about 6 inches before I hit shale, and the rebar is longer...so it looks like they are levitating.

I digress.

I will be going to Oregon in the next few days to collect some Victorian Furniture, and shall bring back the said madrone for both of you. Most is cut in pieces 16-24 inches in length. Any preference to diameter? (Baseball Bat sized? Coffee Can sized?) Let me know how much you both would like and I'll throw it in.

Anybody else??

I should have some Manzanita by November. It's not going anywhere, but I won't be going back up for awhile.

Gigantalope, I would love to have some of that wood also. The bigger the better.

Jungle Trader.

Bigger length, or girth?

Also have you ever used Digger Pine? Huge trees, and plentiful. They just drop over pretty often, and are so large, they are hard to saw apart.

Big G, I like working with 5 to 6 ft. length and 2 to 3 ft. diameter.

I've never tried Digger Pine, I've only carved with palmwood or redwood.

Hi, G-Lope.

The wood I've worked with recently is about 24" length and about 12-14" diameter. Anything around those proportions would be great, probably nothing a lot larger. A little smaller or a little larger would be okay too. Same for the Manzanita. I think that this would also work for Polynesiac, 'cause most of my wood came from him. But I'll let him chime in if he's interested & wants me to pick up some for him.

So where is Shinola, anyway, since it doesn't appear on maps? What's the nearest town? How far would it be from, say, Oakland?

Also, your graveyard story sounds interesting. Can we hear more? It sounds like you live in some kind of co-op of sorts. And the "Freelance Pharmacists"? This tale begs to be shared!

Do you carve a lot? Any pics here on TC?

Dear Aaron's Akua

I work and reside during the week (most of the time just now) here in the projects of Los Gatos. It's not far from Oaklandia.

We can work out details of wood and pick-up times as your next visit draws near. I will gleefully pick up as much wood as you blokes can use. If it works out well, we can make it an ongoing thing.

I don't carve yet. I belive I will start doing it soon though, I loved sculpting when I was in College.

Do you (any of you) carve and sell? I may be looking for some artists and crafts people for an event in sprng which might be lucrative.

The land of the Shinwegians is sort of between Platina and Ono.

I think most guys between 35 and 60 want to own a piece of land...maybe to work, and test one's ability, maybe as a blank canvas for that "refrigeator-henge" you've always wanted to build...maybe to just be able to zip around Sans-pantaloon on a mini-bike.

really though, never in my wildest moments of sarcasm would I call it interesting.

Hey Gigantalope, That Manzanita is Beautiful wood and though very hard , carves nicely (but for the occasional stones as mentioned by Aaron's ) I would love a few small pieces around 2 to 4 inch square. just some fist sized scraps would do. Maybe if you see Jungle trader, he might bring it down to HukiLau. can we work it out?
How 'bout you JT?
The Madrone I'm not familiar with but have heard it is beautiful wood. Nice score.

Benzart, if I get some I'll bring it, but I think it might be too late. Big G might need more time.

Sounds great G-Lope. I'll shoot you a PM a little closer to Thanksgiving. Thanks again.

Aaron

Jungle Trader, you live fairly close by. Do you have a truck or trailer?

Also do you sell your works at shows and Tiki Swaps?

Big G, I live 20 minutes south of MOdesto.
I sell from my website or Minnie's or Whanga Rei. Might be doing a show at Minnie's soon with some of Bosko's poles.

Benzart, shoot me your postal address off line (or on if you want) and I will send you some wood this week.

I don't think it will get messed with by the Ag dept, but you never know.

Thanks Gigantalope. I emailed you my address.
Happyhappyhappy

Is Rosewood particularly hard to get or valuble for carving?

Is there anything special about it?

May have a source.

Got a few pieces of Madrone to share...will be getting the Manzanita as time allows.

The wood is in 16 inch lengths, various diameters. The outside under the bark is smooth like leather. It's heavy stuff...some is tatring to get a split as it ages.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-09-20 09:40 ]

Rosewood is a Very hard dense wood that is very difficult to carve. Usually Very dark with black and reds to deep purple. Usually pretty expensive. there are several varieties, South American, Mexican, African and the Western US has a variety.
Checkout this web site:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/indextotal.htm
It has info on many wood species.

This stuff is from Indonesia or Vietnam.
It does indeed seem hard.

Must play hell on tools

Paul,

That's funny. My family's the same way, but we put our foot down & alternate holidays now.

On 2004-09-13 19:02, Gigantalope wrote:
I don't carve yet. I belive I will start doing it soon though, I loved sculpting when I was in College.

I've got some AAC blocks. Very good for beginners, just getting started with carving. They worked well for me. I've only got a few left, but I'd be glad to give you one if it would help. I could also leave a small palm log. Trading's more fun than just getting.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10218&forum=7&27

You mentioned that the 4 logs are in your front yard. We'll be coming out Wed night, but pretty late, Thanksgiving is Thurs, so that's out. We're leaving on Sunday. If it's cool with you, maybe we could swing by your place on the way out, pick up the logs, and leave a block on your porch.

Does that sound like a plan?

Aaron

Sorry folks - that was supposed to be a PM to Gigantalope. Not quite sure what happened.

OOPS!! :)

A-A

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2004-10-27 13:54 ]