I turned a nice piece of Coolibah and found some interesting things.

When turning this piece of wood it got very hot and was throwing off small smoke signals.

After turning this I then put it in an alcohol bath for a couple of hours because of the oil in the blank. After taking out the blank I noticed two
things.

1 - It had bent in a shallow but very noticable arc. I could bend
the insert. I placed it back on the mandrel until it dried and
it is straight again.

2 - When it went into the bath the OD was .651 and after coming
out of the alcohol it was now .644

What would cause these things to happen? Something I did or didn't
do?

G'day Ron,
Is this Coolibah, the Aussie tree, if so these trees come from Australia's arid areas and due to our dry conditions in Oz these trees hold their water supplies in the wood, even the cured stuff has a high moisture content, most Australian timbers are very unstable and are usually have a habit of shrinking and cracking. Putting it in an alcohol would only strip more of the mositure from the wood.

Regards
Myles
Australia

Myles Boon wrote:

> Is this Coolibah, the Aussie tree, if so these trees come from
> Australia's arid areas and due to our dry conditions in Oz
> these trees hold their water supplies in the wood, even the
> cured stuff has a high moisture content, most Australian
> timbers are very unstable and are usually have a habit of
> shrinking and cracking. Putting it in an alcohol would only
> strip more of the mositure from the wood.

Yes Myles, it's the Aussie tree.

Water apparantly isn't the only thing it retains. With the amount of oil in the wood I was wondering if it's in the rosewood family.

G'day again Ron,
The coolibah tree is in the Eucalptus (gum tree) framily. E. microtheca. These trees are very hardy, and are not even good for fire wood because they are so dense. I will ask around for you and find out the best way to turn and stablise this wood.

Myles

Hi Ron

Where did you get the wood? Was it kiln dried or naturally air dried? The only thing I casn suggest is that you try the microwave to make sure it is dry. Dry it in small stages and you shouldn't have too many problems. I have just received some Coolibah burl and it has been kiln dried and also naturally air dried for approx 18 months. I'll see what happens to my sample. It is a very nice wood.

Ron,
I sell and turn Coolibah ona regular basis, but I usually always have it stabilized first. The wood is so dense and hard the stabilization doesn't have the same penetrating effect that it does on softer domestic woods, however I have yet to have any problems with Coolibah.
I usually let it dry for at least a month or two before I stabilize it.

Andy Dear
Lamar Reel Seats