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Leg Cleek

3532 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  gdenby, 
cobalt
7
Think i may have posted part of this before ?

I have a couple of large blocks of wood which i have had for quite some time i managed to salvage from being burnt.

there some sort of burl wood dont know what and the guy said there where at least 600 years old? They where bought down during a storm some years ago

I decide to take a slice off it and make a couple of leg cleeks and heres the state of play to date.

Would love to know what the wood is?

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Brown Wood Font Symbol Art
Wood Bedrock Rectangle Brick Artifact
Wood Font Art Brick Artifact

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gdenby
It is harder to tell what burls woods are, because the grain can be so different from normal growth. O did some searches, and found that the species that reach 600 years in britain are mostly yews and oaks. The color of the wood doesn't look very much like oak so my guess is yew.

I've been messing w. some yew branches and a small burl for the last year. Very tough wood. I'll try to post some pics later today of on I've been polishing recently. If you do have yew, the final surface can be almost mirror like.
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gdenby
I did some more "dendritic sleuthing." Seems unlikely that the wood is maple. Assuming the original claim of the tree being 600 years, very few if any maples reach that age, and no maple native to Britain, or brought in centuries ago could have reached that age.

I'd be willing to bet its yew. And a chunk that size would be very valuable, from what I can find. +Work needed to shape it, I don't think you will want to give those away except as a most extraordinary gift.
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gdenby
The color and figure on the partially finished cleeks have much the same color and figure the I'm seeing in the much younger yew I have. While there are a few oaks and plane trees in Britain that are at least 600 years old, very old yews are more common. I think the wood you have is most likely yew on those grounds. The stuff I have has a sort of waxy feel in my hands. I've worked a few pieces of some exotic hardwoods, and a few of those had a similar feel. None of the other woods I handled felt the same.

As I've mentioned, I work with a lot of harder woods. Rasps seem to be the best way to work them. Craft blades may snap against them, and even better blades may chip. I've only had one rasp deteriorate severely. I'm looking for some acid to try and re-etch a few files I have from my grandfather, who used them for iron work.

I too am considering using some of the nicer bits of wood I have sitting around for jewelry. That's one reason I'm fussing so much w. the finish.I figure that the closer I can get to a glass like finish before adding a top coat should be good for "jewel" woods.
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