Wood in small (or large) amounts

I needed some wood for my Burrell-Boydell, it needed to be reasonably grainless and a light colour.

I found this supplier after a local search;

Nottingham Hardwood Timber

www.nottinghamhardwoodtimber.co.uk

Tel:07889779220

The owner is Simon who is very helpful and will supply small amounts of wood in a large variety of species.

No connection etc

Brian

I recall some woodworking chap who used to do stuff out of green wood, very roughly inished and then wrapped in newspaper with all the chippings and turnings and kept indoors to slowly season before finishing. It's about a year per 1" thickness; so rough cutting to say 1/2" for future boiler cladding at the start of a project and it'd likely be ready by the time you are - assuming you have a source.

I stick the ocassional good looking bit of a felled tree into my barn rather than the woodshed. Silver birch has a nice pale close grain. I do regret being faced with a fallen tree that had to be shifted as well as a box it'd brought down. Due to the need to do it quickly it all got chainsawn and mixed into the firewood. That box was lovely stuff I should have saved - lovely dense heavy stuff. It was hanging off a hillside and theatening to come down across the cartway after just missing the barn and was a danger.

Shame about the boxwood, it is wonderful stuff to work with for an engineer who uses machine tools and treats wood as metal!

Brian

I used to live in Romford in Essex. Many of the residential streets there were lined with mature lime trees. Lots of those trees fell casualty to 'the great October gale'. The Council guys turned out with their chainsaws and cut the trunks into short enough lengths to be man-handled out of the way so the milkmen and Postmen could get through!

I know that lime trees are best avoided when choosing a parking place because of their sticky sap. Having taken insufficient notice when my father was trying to pass on his woodworking skills, I've no idea of the merits of lime wood for woodwork - however, I did think it was tragic that those fallen trees couldn't have been removed some other way that would have preserved their usefulness.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 18/07/2019 16:05:54

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 18/07/2019 16:06:29

I may be wrong, but I think Limewood is highly prized for carving due to fine, straight grain and excellent cutting characteristics. Wasn't it used extensively by Grinling Gibbons ? Look at his work with undercut detail and be prepared to be amazed. I'd love to know how he sharpened his chisels and gouges.

If I'm right, you missed a golden opportunity, and you know what Omar Khayam said about that.

Indeed lime is the carvers choice (they call it basswood in the states?).. lovely stuff to carve, you can almost push it into shape. Sadly when the guys were cutting all the lime trees down by my clinic they were totaly unhepful about letting me have any - gave a load of guff about value to the council who were doubtess going to compost it. Obstinate chaps wouldn't even take a bribe.....

In the past Lime was used by pattern-makers for producing intricate shape because it carves so sweetly. I've only used small samples finding the only superior material being some of the lighter grade Sikabloc foamed polyurethane foam boards.

Lime is certainly a great wood for carving I have carved a few pieces.

Sycamore and maple woods are pretty good paler coloured woods as is beech which can be hard

I was not aware that Basswood is the American name for Lime. I recently purchase block of Basswood to make some patterns. It was lovely to carve and sand to shape.

The two patterns I carved as shown above.

Colin

Interesting, I've dropped him an email to see if he stocks blanks suitable for guitar bodies.

When I lived in surrey and was into my carving era I did find a shop near croydon that stocked a whole slew of exotic turning blanks and timbers.I did carve one lime board and a lovely piece of mahogany but frugal reality meant that my bigger peices were on cheapo wicks pine boards (awful to carve but do-able) and the only piece in the round was laminated from an old skirting board.

I don't think it was either of the links below but they are both interesting:

exotic timbers

Lime blocks

pgk

I don't know about bodies but THIS place has wood for guitars.

Edited By Derek Lane 2 on 18/07/2019 23:31:17