If it is winter, then make knitting needles?

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

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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

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hate spam not welcome

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

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

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

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

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 21:55:05 -0800, (Els
van Dam) wrote:

The woods I live in is called a "depression cut", in that it was
lumbered around 65 years ago. A few of the dogwoods are huge (for a
dogwood). It is native to NC, not the Cornus variety. One sadly
fell in a storm down near the creek (not far from where Hurricane Fran
knocked down the huge black walnut). The trunk of the dogwood is
about 1 foot diameter. We also have a disease that is hitting them
all. In the 10 years I have lived here, almost 90% have died. I just
collect them all for the firewood. It is so sad.
Kira


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

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

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

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