Acacia Progress
Processed the remaining Acacia today, this means I pulled out the chainsaw and chopped out the piths and threw away the wood that didn't seem worth the trouble. Here are my immediate impression of the wood.
It is light, like redwood, meaning it doesn't weigh a lot.
It likes to tear, especially when wet.
Looks like it is prone to cracking/checking.
Smells pretty bad, think the dust is toxic.
I continued working on the big chunk I have been playing with the last couple of weeks now. Drying ok, I noticed a little more cracking despite being in a paper bag with turning chips. I threw a loose plastic bag around the whole thing to slow it down even more. I have been really keeping an eye on this as this is the one which I left the pith in.
I don't want this piece to stand without a pedestal, so put it into final shape and hollowed it out more with my new Skorsby tool. Love that thing and I have only barely used it. Still, the wood does rip in there where it is the wettest. Made a plug to hold the open end of the vessel while I rounded the end. It will need a touch of sanding to finish it off down there, but it will have a little hole drilled in there for the steel bracket. Progress…
 |
| Black Acacia, hope it doesn't split, lot's of little cracks. |
It is light, like redwood, meaning it doesn't weigh a lot.
It likes to tear, especially when wet.
Looks like it is prone to cracking/checking.
Smells pretty bad, think the dust is toxic.
I continued working on the big chunk I have been playing with the last couple of weeks now. Drying ok, I noticed a little more cracking despite being in a paper bag with turning chips. I threw a loose plastic bag around the whole thing to slow it down even more. I have been really keeping an eye on this as this is the one which I left the pith in.
I don't want this piece to stand without a pedestal, so put it into final shape and hollowed it out more with my new Skorsby tool. Love that thing and I have only barely used it. Still, the wood does rip in there where it is the wettest. Made a plug to hold the open end of the vessel while I rounded the end. It will need a touch of sanding to finish it off down there, but it will have a little hole drilled in there for the steel bracket. Progress…
 |
| Plug in place. Works ok, slips a little cause I had to run it loose. |
 |
| With the piece removed |
Comments