Dark Plum

[nommo]

Hiya all,

I'm a woodworking n00b with limited skills & tools

I was lucky enough to be gifted what was described as a 'Dark Plum' tree cut into logs from a tree surgeon... It was felled last Friday (7 days ago) and I've finally got round to splitting it & preparing billets. I did have a quick go at carving it green during the week but I'm not too proud of my first attempt - the grain looks lovely and there's a beautiful range of colours though!

I'm knackered now after getting through about a third of it, so I thought I'd go back to familiar territory while I rest up and type stuff on the internets

Here's a few pics of my haul - the plan is to try to seal the ends with paraffin wax before I go up north to visit my parents for Christmas so that it can begin to season in the shed for future use, after carving something for my mum

The billets I've prepared have been split, had most of the darker heartwood removed and along with the bark and manky bits... has anyone any tips, suggestions or general thoughts - for seasoning or what to do with it?

Cheers
Paul

 

[TurboGirl]

Thats a lovely stockpile I can't wait to see what the experienced guys suggest on treating/ seasoning/ preperation etc and seeing what you morph it into! I'm especially liking the branching split bit on the floor, I'm sure theres a woodspirit lurking somewhere in that

 

[Harvestman]

With that colour almost anything will look good, and I'd like to see a spoon made from that heartwood.

 

[HillBill]

Nice one.

Plum is one of the worst woods i have ever seen for splitting, its really bad. I would have just left the logs whole and seasoned them. It needs to be done sloooowly.

If you have any spare though, i'd be happy to trade for some as it has really contrast and once seasoned and perhaps stabilised would make lovely knife handles.

 

[nommo]

Thats a lovely stockpile I can't wait to see what the experienced guys suggest on treating/ seasoning/ preperation etc and seeing what you morph it into! I'm especially liking the branching split bit on the floor, I'm sure theres a woodspirit lurking somewhere in that

Ahh yes - I have been admiring the Woodspirit posts on here - I did save a longer, thinner piece that you can just see perched on a log (that's an old bit of cypress btw), that I was thinking would make a good Woodspirit - or possibly a chainsaw carved owl (I have a friend who has offered to teach me how to do that). As for the branching bit - my mind boggled at trying to think what I would do with it!

With that colour almost anything will look good, and I'd like to see a spoon made from that heartwood.

My phone camera totally doesn't do the colours justice either the heartwood has pink and purple running through it. I did wonder whether the heartwood was usable - the very centre is a bit rotten in some of the logs... I have read that leaving too much heartwood on billets can make splitting worse which is why I removed most of it.

Nice one.

Plum is one of the worst woods i have ever seen for splitting, its really bad. I would have just left the logs whole and seasoned them. It needs to be done sloooowly.

If you have any spare though, i'd be happy to trade for some as it has really contrast and once seasoned and perhaps stabilised would make lovely knife handles.

I am worried about splitting but I did read that it's best to turn it into billets before seasoning but I did leave one branched log whole, as well as the longer,thinner log I mentioned above. Hopefully using the paraffin wax on the ends will help, and I am the patient type so should be able to wait a year or two Do you think storing it in a shed will be best? I am sure I will have a few billets spare for trade - would you like to do that while it's green or wait for it to season?

I read about stabilising the other day - possibly on here. Interesting stuff. Ah - I just thought of one thing I could make (apart from lots of spoons and possibly a Woodspirit/Owl) - a handle for my Hoyt Recurve Riser! It has a plastic one at the moment...

Thanks for the replies all.

Paul

 

[HillBill]

Probably better in the shed, as you want it to dry slowly. Outside in moving air could make it crack more.

I'd like it green, so i can season it how i want it. I'd like to use cross cut pieces for the handles so its a tricky one. Have you tried boiling some in some seriously salted water? This helps to dry/stabilise it, but not sure what the effects would be on that stuff.

Whats the diameter of the larger pieces?

 

[robin wood]

I like working wood green so would have left it stacked log on top of log and asked the surgeon next time to leave it in long lengths that would stay green longer. Splitting into billets like this is great if you want to work dry wood, a good idea if say you are after scales for knife handles. Once split into billets it dries pretty quickly. Plum is lovely wood takes a clean cut off the tools but is quite physically hard work, a half log would have made a nice kuksa, you billets will make great spoons or knife scales once dry.

 

[nommo]

Probably better in the shed, as you want it to dry slowly. Outside in moving air could make it crack more.

I'd like it green, so i can season it how i want it. I'd like to use cross cut pieces for the handles so its a tricky one. Have you tried boiling some in some seriously salted water? This helps to dry/stabilise it, but not sure what the effects would be on that stuff.

Whats the diameter of the larger pieces?

I haven't tried boiling it no, I wonder whether the salt will turn the purple bits blue like red cabbage does?! I did microwave the greenwood 'scoop' I carved this week - I am not sure if I have dried it completely, but it hasn't really split yet - there's a tiny bit of cracking in the end grain that I cut with a crooknife in the bowl area, but that doesn't seem to go very deep as it sanded out quickly. I also left an offcut of the sapwood on top of the woodburner fire grill overnight to see what happened and that didn't split either - so although worried, I am optimistic

Actually - here's a couple of pics of the unfinished scoop I made as a warmup (to get the blisters started ). I've corrected the colour to try and make it look closer to reality.

The bigger bits you can see in the wood pile pic above are about 17cm in diameter and 35cm long.

Aha I just remembered about Google Street view - here's the actual tree I believe: http://goo.gl/maps/Ei1RL Prunus cerisifera nigra - Ornamental or Cherry Plum

 

[Harvestman]

Beautiful colours mate! I've just tidied my shed, and I found some plum in there. Might have to get it out and have a go at it...

 

[nommo]

I like working wood green so would have left it stacked log on top of log and asked the surgeon next time to leave it in long lengths that would stay green longer. Splitting into billets like this is great if you want to work dry wood, a good idea if say you are after scales for knife handles. Once split into billets it dries pretty quickly. Plum is lovely wood takes a clean cut off the tools but is quite physically hard work, a half log would have made a nice kuksa, you billets will make great spoons or knife scales once dry.

Thanks for the pointers - I'd prefer to work it green too, but I not sure how much I'll get through over the holidays - I will be at my parents house who will not let me whittle in the living room plus I've got geek hands and they're in pretty badshape after carving the scoop

I'd like to have a go at a kuksa - I might still have a piece big deep enough. I'll definitely see if I can get longer logs next time - I'll have to carve the tree surgeon something nice - or maybe a bottle of last year's hedgerow red will keep her sweet?

 

[Whittler Kev]

Wow! That 1st Picture. I hope you left a lump to make a stool top out of.
The colours are gorgeous