duckkisser Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 i have a chunk of magnolia tree. its not huge but it is a solid 3-4 inches thick. has anyone worked with it before? is it good wood? turn well? carve well? what can i expect from working with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 We cut down a magnolia which was to big for our small front yard. Wood was soft, split, cracked and kinda pithy. Maybe with careful drying it would turn out better, I was just trying to use logs from a firewood pile. Don't remember it being good firewood either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I just looked up current info, used for pallets,furniture and veneer. Says it is hard and heavy. I bet the stuff I tried using was branches, it was over 35 years ago and I didn't know much then.<grin> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWC Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I've tried the wood from two magnolia trees. Not good for much except burning IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 i anchor sealed it and threw it in my stack. didnt bother to split it since its rather small if nothing else ill gets some small sections for my identification board. it seems that flowering trees like lilack and magnolia are hard wood but they tend to split badly i wonder if its all flowering trees?next summer ill put some on the lathe and turn it and try some carving on it too see how it handles. only thing it will cost is a few feet of space in the shop and a little bit of anchor seal. i mostly grabed it because of not having that type of wood wanting to expirement with it. and that might be a selling point where i might make a pen out of lilac or magnolia and pu that on the label so that someone might want a lilac pen made from there favorite tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 it seems that flowering trees like lilack and magnolia are hard wood but they tend to split badly i wonder if its all flowering trees? Cherry is a flowering tree. The blossoms don't last long, but there are a lot of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 All deciduous trees flower... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted June 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 ya but those tree arent know for their flowers they are known for fruit or leaves.......but some trees are grown specificly to be decoration and have bright showy flowers. anyone know anything about those types of tree's? ones that are grown for decoration rather then for shade or the fruit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 You're thinking of ornamental trees...which are only considered ornamental because they're pretty and usually smaller. Not all ornamentals have big, showy flowers...i.e. Japanese maples. But ALL hardwood trees flower, otherwise they wouldn't be able to make seeds and reproduce. The size, shape and color of their flowers has no relationship, at least that I'm aware of, to the grain structure or workability of its respective wood. Take the tulip poplar for example...big yellow flowers, but very workable and commonly used wood. Magnolia may or may not be great for woodworking...but I'd go out on a limb and say it has nothing to do with its flowers...the flowers are incidental. Forgive the stupid pun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted June 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 sorry i cant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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