i hope I've spelt that right!
Is there anything you can do with rhododendron other than watch the leaves burning?
Is there anything you can do with rhododendron other than watch the leaves burning?
Rhododendron
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If you can get any bits big enough you will find the wood is heavy and close grained, good for decorative bowl carving (but hard work), also good for home made mallets, wooden splitting wedges (gluts), etc. I don't know if the wood is food safe though.
Yeah I knew the leaves were poisonous, I just wasn't sure if there were toxin in the wood, or how hard to carve the wood is.
im not 100% but i think its actually dangerous to burn as firewood because it lets of toxic fumes. rhodies can be pretty but it can also carry a nasty disease that kills many trees, hence why it is controlled in many areas.
Pete
Pete
burn it, really good hot fire wood when seasoned.
with its unusual shapes it makes interesting out door, durable furniture
smake is really bad for you, steer clear when burning.
to kill it off, drill oout the stump and stuff it full of a high concenrated lime paste. needs several strong doses to eventually kill it
with its unusual shapes it makes interesting out door, durable furniture
smake is really bad for you, steer clear when burning.
to kill it off, drill oout the stump and stuff it full of a high concenrated lime paste. needs several strong doses to eventually kill it
there's plenty you can do with it, the wood is really nice to carve and comes out nice and strong, its very close grained so its nice and consistent when carving. when seasoned the wood is a nice "tea with milk" colour and is very attractive when polished up.
The spoons I carved from some Rhody offcuts I "longtermborrowed" from a local park when they cleared a load of theirs have come up whiter than Nick Griffins favourite wet dream... is there's a colour variation dependant on species do you think?
When I was a boy, I'm talking 50 years ago now when we were not so knowledgeable about conservation issues, I used to collect butterflies and it was quite common to use crushed rhodedendron leaves in you killing bottle.
A chap I know has just made a convincing bow out of it. He chose a piece with a large dead knot at the centre and produced a true centre-shot bow - i.e. the arrow comes out of the knot hole in the top-centre of the handle.
Peter
just make sure its well seasoned, then give it a good coating of non-toxic oil, i prefer walnut oil but there's plenty of others to choose from, just go to your local supermarket and browse their selection of cooking oils.
All I can say from several rhodie bashing sessions is themost important and useful thing you can do with Rhododendrons is destroy them. However I did have one good day with Rhodies when I was let loose with a very solid and long-handled two bladed billhook. The guy called it a Yorkie I think. Still any billhook that is well over 5ft long with one flat blade and another curved like a classic billhook is all good in my eyes. Quite a hefty cutting implement and really made a slash and burn approach most enjoyable. It was a Welsh hillside that had been taken over by Rhodies NT owned andthey had escaped from a local big house with loads of varieites in its garden.
I would have thought it would be unusual to find any trunks thick enough to carve anything big. Most Rhodies I've seen being cut down have been relatively young and only at best 3-4" diameter. If you have anything bigger it would be interesting to see what you do carve out of it.
I would have thought it would be unusual to find any trunks thick enough to carve anything big. Most Rhodies I've seen being cut down have been relatively young and only at best 3-4" diameter. If you have anything bigger it would be interesting to see what you do carve out of it.
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