RichardA Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I went to buy some oak from a new supplier today. I love this guy, he and I have a lot in common. Similar taste in beer and booze, and Harley's and wood! How could I not ? Any how, I bought about 50 board feet of oak for a dresser I'm about to begin! And he started throwing chunks of wood in my truck, that he said was in his way and he couldn't either sell or use! He tossed in a 12 ft x 7" board of curly maple, saying He has to keep moving this piece out of his way every time he needs to get something. Did I complain? Not by a long shot! Then he tossed in 4 pieces of 4x6 x48" that he said were fiddleback, but he wasn't sure what species the wood was. I'm going to run a plane over these boards in the morning and post pics here and hope you guys can help me determine what I have and how best to use it! I couldn't wait till morning so here's a few pics, The wood has a reddish hue, and looks like it could be oak, but for it's size it's heavier than oak of the same size, and the grain isn't open as oak is. I know several woods produce fiddleback, and that it's mostly used by luthiers. I'm not a luthier, but I want to use this wood, it looks so damn good. And boy does it make a plane chatter, no matter what the setting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Be careful planing curly or fiddleback grain ! Unless your knives are razor sharp curly grain will tear wickedly. I use my drum sander. There are techniques using a hand plane, mineral spirits, and some skill if that is the direction you want to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Be careful planing curly or fiddleback grain ! Unless your knives are razor sharp curly grain will tear wickedly. I use my drum sander. There are techniques using a hand plane, mineral spirits, and some skill if that is the direction you want to go. I noticed, with all the chattering on my jack plane! I went to my #4 and it cleaned up very nicely. I don't intend to stay strictly with hand planes. I'd like to mill it into 1" boards, then run it through my 735! I have an idea for trying to use it as a gift for the guy that tossed it in my truck. I'm still unsure what wood it is. With it's reddish tone, I was wondering if it could be some specie of maple? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Curly stock that thickness is quite a prize ! My track record looking at pictures is kinda dismal. Birch and Maple can have that color and grain. Probably a dozen other possibilities as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Nice haul! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Richardson Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Great score! Very nice tight curl, looks like red maple to me... That's a good friend indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treecyclehardwoods Posted July 14, 2014 Report Share Posted July 14, 2014 Hey barry I would agree a soft maple species of some sort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Hey barry I would agree a soft maple species of some sort Correct, a soft maple! However after several side trips to various forestry sites and a actual trip to the Ag extension and to the forestry offices, here in Tennessee! I've discovered that this fiddleback maple is designated as Ambrosia Maple! That's a new one on me! But I like the stuff! Easy to work, and beautiful grain and color! It does tend to fray when cut, but sands out beautifully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 The ambrosia beetle drills into the tree and leaves the fungus that stains the wood with blue/ black/ greenish streaks . The curly grain was already there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 The ambrosia beetle drills into the tree and leaves the fungus that stains the wood with blue/ black/ greenish streaks . The curly grain was already there. Thank's Steve! That's what the forestry guy told me. He also said that for the most part, that beetle generally only bores into red maple. For some unknown reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Awesome! Tim, What in the heck kind of fish are you chewing on 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Tim, What in the heck kind of fish are you chewing on My guess would be "a dead one" ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted August 7, 2014 Report Share Posted August 7, 2014 Correct, a soft maple! However after several side trips to various forestry sites and a actual trip to the Ag extension and to the forestry offices, here in Tennessee! I've discovered that this fiddleback maple is designated as Ambrosia Maple! That's a new one on me! But I like the stuff! Easy to work, and beautiful grain and color! It does tend to fray when cut, but sands out beautifully! That's a bit of an odd designation since it has nothing to do with the species. It does look like red maple, and it is ambrosia maple, but very unimpressive as ambrosia, much more impressive for the curl. Lots of woods get ambrosia stain. My site has pages for both ambrosia maple and curly maple (where I include fiddleback) and I'd put these pieces on the curly page, not the ambrosia page. See here for more ambrosia wood examples (in addition to maple): http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_ambrosia.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 That's a bit of an odd designation since it has nothing to do with the species. It does look like red maple, and it is ambrosia maple, but very unimpressive as ambrosia, much more impressive for the curl. Lots of woods get ambrosia stain. My site has pages for both ambrosia maple and curly maple (where I include fiddleback) and I'd put these pieces on the curly page, not the ambrosia page. See here for more ambrosia wood examples (in addition to maple): http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_ambrosia.htm I checked your site and tend to agree with you and the forestry folks. However, the Ambrosia signature showed up in much larger proportions in a couple of the other pieces I milled. Thank's for your input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Small sand shark....sometimes when you're fishing with shrimp, they hit it like they weigh 20 pounds and then head for Europe for about 20 feet. They little guy was released unharmed except for his pride. The bad thing is NONE of his friends down in the deep will believe his story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Oh Tim, you had me digging and now rolling! I was trying to relate this comment to Ambrosia. Yes, there is a lot of confusion in this world when we label items by traits instead of specie or origin. This is precisely why I resist being called stupid:-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Oh Tim, you had me digging and now rolling! I was trying to relate this comment to Ambrosia. Yes, there is a lot of confusion in this world when we label items by traits instead of specie or origin. This is precisely why I resist being called stupid:-) I refuse to resist being called stupid, It gives me a leg up on the real idiots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 LOL....I was just responding to KCooper's question. Tying it to the Ambrosia.....I may need to take a 2x2 of it with me next time to whack his daddy in the head! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Mosher Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 For highly figured woods I have a lot better luck with a card scraper. A skew block plane would probably work as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weithman5 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 For highly figured woods I have a lot better luck with a card scraper. A skew block plane would probably work as well. to hit tim's next shark in the head with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Heyyyyy...a few weeks ago, I caught a 4 foot shark and tired him out before grabbing him by the tail and putting him in the boat. I only THOUGHT he was tired. I looked like a fat Chinese acrobat sitting in the chair with both feet high in the air escaping all those teeth!!! A good block plane to the head would have slowed him down!!! I love figured woods....the grain's indecision as to which way it wants to go is great. If I could get figured woods here in SC, I'd build all sorts of stuff out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Mosher Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 It would work well for removing scales from fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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