If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
!! (Kira Dirlik) wrote: I haven't tried to make knitting needles, but I collect fallen wood from the trees around here to burn in my fireplace. The dogwood makes THE best fire! The wood is very hard and compact, and burns hot and bright. Another wood that looks the same when it is dead, down, and barkless, is Sourwood. That wood weighs a ton, so it is REALLY compact, and looks very smooth. It doesn't burst into flame, but keeps the fire going a long time by just slowly shrinking. I have black walnuts here, too. A hurricane brought down a HUGE one on my neighbor's land, and he didn't want it (at bottom of very steep, wooded, hill). I called a woodworker I know and he actually bought a portable sawmill just for that tree. It took him many days to to glean it all. He also got a huge white oak. He made me a wonderful black walnut coffee table as a "finders fee". My fireplace mantel is also from a much smaller one that was cut down for my house. Someone in our local Arts Council sells knitting needles. Next time I go in I will see if her label says what kind of wood (I think oak). Cheers. Kira I have now gone to ask the expert in the basement, and Otto tells me you want a smooth and hard wood. He would use Beech, or hard Maple to make knitting needles. You want hard wood as well as one that will work up smoothly, so you do not have any little burrs sticking out. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
Ads |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
wrote: There are very old walnut trees on a nearby lot that are about to be bulldozed by the builder. I just got premission to salvage the trees. Not sure what I will find. Maybe just fire wood. Aaron Aaron what a find, even when it is just fire wood. I hope that you can salvage some of the wood for planking. Do you have anyone with a mobile saw mill that can mill it for you. How tall and big is this tree. Otto would be drooling at a find like that, lucky you. Keep us posted. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
The dogwood works very easily. The green dogwood cuts like cheese in any
direction - almost no grain. Now as it dries, it turns out to take a very high, snag-free polish. The dogwood does seem to be smoother than beech, or birch or maple or any American wood that I have ever worked with. It is much smoother than any finish I can achieve on any of the commercial dowel stock that I have seen. The crochet hook that I just made of dogwood is as smooth as an old ivory one that I have. OTH, dogwood is so easy to work green and polish that I do not know how it will wear .... But, while it is still winter, I am going to cut myself enough dogwood for a full set of needles to be finished as I have time. At this point it seems to be worth the effort - even if my wife thinks that I already have enough knitting needles. G Aaron "Els van Dam" wrote in message ... In article , !! (Kira Dirlik) wrote: I haven't tried to make knitting needles, but I collect fallen wood from the trees around here to burn in my fireplace. The dogwood makes THE best fire! The wood is very hard and compact, and burns hot and bright. Another wood that looks the same when it is dead, down, and barkless, is Sourwood. That wood weighs a ton, so it is REALLY compact, and looks very smooth. It doesn't burst into flame, but keeps the fire going a long time by just slowly shrinking. I have black walnuts here, too. A hurricane brought down a HUGE one on my neighbor's land, and he didn't want it (at bottom of very steep, wooded, hill). I called a woodworker I know and he actually bought a portable sawmill just for that tree. It took him many days to to glean it all. He also got a huge white oak. He made me a wonderful black walnut coffee table as a "finders fee". My fireplace mantel is also from a much smaller one that was cut down for my house. Someone in our local Arts Council sells knitting needles. Next time I go in I will see if her label says what kind of wood (I think oak). Cheers. Kira I have now gone to ask the expert in the basement, and Otto tells me you want a smooth and hard wood. He would use Beech, or hard Maple to make knitting needles. You want hard wood as well as one that will work up smoothly, so you do not have any little burrs sticking out. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
wrote: The dogwood works very easily. The green dogwood cuts like cheese in any direction - almost no grain. Now as it dries, it turns out to take a very high, snag-free polish. The dogwood does seem to be smoother than beech, or birch or maple or any American wood that I have ever worked with. It is much smoother than any finish I can achieve on any of the commercial dowel stock that I have seen. The crochet hook that I just made of dogwood is as smooth as an old ivory one that I have. OTH, dogwood is so easy to work green and polish that I do not know how it will wear .... But, while it is still winter, I am going to cut myself enough dogwood for a full set of needles to be finished as I have time. At this point it seems to be worth the effort - even if my wife thinks that I already have enough knitting needles. G Aaron Aaron, I would think that dogwood is a new one for Otto, I don't think that it is commercially sold for wood working. There are many different Cornus varieties, I have a bush in my garden that has bright red branches in the winter time. I will have to go down there tomorrow and look at it. It would make very fine knitting needles with a fantastic red colour. I also know that the dogwood that grows wild in BC is suffering from some bad decease. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 21:45:40 GMT, wrote:
There are very old walnut trees on a nearby lot that are about to be bulldozed by the builder. I just got premission to salvage the trees. Not sure what I will find. Maybe just fire wood. Aaron Aaron, when I built my house, my builder put the logs (very tall trees... about 7 logs per tree) in a big pile. I posted a note on my local Newsgroup, Triangle.General, and many people came out with trucks and chainsaws and started to take it away. Eventually some black walnut logs surfaced when the pile was half gone, so I posted again to tell WoodWorkers, and two immediately came out in a driving rainstorm to get them. Do you have a local Newsgroup, or a local school that teaches woodworking? It would be a tragedy for them to end up as firewood. Cheers, Kira |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
That is even more than I realized. Well, that fellow earned it,
carrying it all up that huge hill, balanced a plank at a time on a wheelbarrow, over many days. I just like to see something beautiful and valuable not go to waste. It wasn't even my tree to try and sell it. Kira On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 21:48:00 GMT, wrote: The wood from a large black walnut (in prime condition) is worth much more than $100,000. Aaron "Kira Dirlik" !! wrote in message .. . I haven't tried to make knitting needles, but I collect fallen wood from the trees around here to burn in my fireplace. The dogwood makes THE best fire! The wood is very hard and compact, and burns hot and bright. Another wood that looks the same when it is dead, down, and barkless, is Sourwood. That wood weighs a ton, so it is REALLY compact, and looks very smooth. It doesn't burst into flame, but keeps the fire going a long time by just slowly shrinking. I have black walnuts here, too. A hurricane brought down a HUGE one on my neighbor's land, and he didn't want it (at bottom of very steep, wooded, hill). I called a woodworker I know and he actually bought a portable sawmill just for that tree. It took him many days to to glean it all. He also got a huge white oak. He made me a wonderful black walnut coffee table as a "finders fee". My fireplace mantel is also from a much smaller one that was cut down for my house. Someone in our local Arts Council sells knitting needles. Next time I go in I will see if her label says what kind of wood (I think oak). Cheers. Kira |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
|
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Are you using wood from the flowering dogwood tree (cornus alba), or the red
twig dogwood shrub (red osier, cornus stolonifera? Or some other type of dogwood? Does it have a single trunk with rough, scaly bark, or does it grow in clumps and have smooth bark? Unfortunately, many types are called dogwood, as many people who try to make Indian-style arrows can attest. I've got LOTS of red-twig dogwood growing wild nearby and would really like to make some nice knitting needles! DougVL wrote in message m... The dogwood works very easily. The green dogwood cuts like cheese in any direction - almost no grain. Now as it dries, it turns out to take a very high, snag-free polish. The dogwood does seem to be smoother than beech, or birch or maple or any American wood that I have ever worked with. It is much smoother than any finish I can achieve on any of the commercial dowel stock that I have seen. The crochet hook that I just made of dogwood is as smooth as an old ivory one that I have. OTH, dogwood is so easy to work green and polish that I do not know how it will wear .... But, while it is still winter, I am going to cut myself enough dogwood for a full set of needles to be finished as I have time. At this point it seems to be worth the effort - even if my wife thinks that I already have enough knitting needles. G Aaron "Els van Dam" wrote in message ... In article , !! (Kira Dirlik) wrote: I haven't tried to make knitting needles, but I collect fallen wood from the trees around here to burn in my fireplace. The dogwood makes THE best fire! The wood is very hard and compact, and burns hot and bright. Another wood that looks the same when it is dead, down, and barkless, is Sourwood. That wood weighs a ton, so it is REALLY compact, and looks very smooth. It doesn't burst into flame, but keeps the fire going a long time by just slowly shrinking. I have black walnuts here, too. A hurricane brought down a HUGE one on my neighbor's land, and he didn't want it (at bottom of very steep, wooded, hill). I called a woodworker I know and he actually bought a portable sawmill just for that tree. It took him many days to to glean it all. He also got a huge white oak. He made me a wonderful black walnut coffee table as a "finders fee". My fireplace mantel is also from a much smaller one that was cut down for my house. Someone in our local Arts Council sells knitting needles. Next time I go in I will see if her label says what kind of wood (I think oak). Cheers. Kira I have now gone to ask the expert in the basement, and Otto tells me you want a smooth and hard wood. He would use Beech, or hard Maple to make knitting needles. You want hard wood as well as one that will work up smoothly, so you do not have any little burrs sticking out. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
In article , "DougVL"
wrote: Are you using wood from the flowering dogwood tree (cornus alba), or the red twig dogwood shrub (red osier, cornus stolonifera? Or some other type of dogwood? Does it have a single trunk with rough, scaly bark, or does it grow in clumps and have smooth bark? Unfortunately, many types are called dogwood, as many people who try to make Indian-style arrows can attest. I've got LOTS of red-twig dogwood growing wild nearby and would really like to make some nice knitting needles! DougVL I have the red twig dogwood in my garden, but the twigs are very thin, and there would not be enough substance there to create a knitting needle, after you have sanded the twig or branche smooth. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
#30
|
|||
|
|||
This is a flowering dog wood, with smooth gray bark. The wood is about the
color of birch when raw, but turns a pale green when dry and finished with bee's wax. I really like the smoothness of the wood, and lack of grain. The walnut "feels" smoother to the hand, but it is easier to get the tip of the dogwood needle to be snag free with respect to yarn. The dogwood is easy to work, and quite light. I do not know how well the wood will wear. I expect it to be at least as wear resistant as birch. I am not sure that I have exactly the right species of dogwood. What I hoped for, is that a knitter where dogwood really grows well, would get a friendly wood worker to make-up and test a few sets of needles. Aaron "Els van Dam" wrote in message ... In article , "DougVL" wrote: Are you using wood from the flowering dogwood tree (cornus alba), or the red twig dogwood shrub (red osier, cornus stolonifera? Or some other type of dogwood? Does it have a single trunk with rough, scaly bark, or does it grow in clumps and have smooth bark? Unfortunately, many types are called dogwood, as many people who try to make Indian-style arrows can attest. I've got LOTS of red-twig dogwood growing wild nearby and would really like to make some nice knitting needles! DougVL I have the red twig dogwood in my garden, but the twigs are very thin, and there would not be enough substance there to create a knitting needle, after you have sanded the twig or branche smooth. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Celtic Winter? | DanielleHallOH | Needlework | 151 | November 29th 04 08:11 PM |
TOYOTA KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLES | Jue | Machine Knit | 9 | October 10th 04 12:31 PM |
How To Make Ebay Work For You - for beadmakers | Kandice Seeber | Beads | 63 | February 22nd 04 05:45 PM |
Things Not to Do With Knitting Needles | SlinkyToy | Yarn | 9 | July 7th 03 03:05 PM |