O.K....so I went to FL and bought a lot of wood.
1. Camphor. Love the look - but cannot turn it because my lathe is in the basement of my house. The stench is too strong for the Mrs. to tolerate.
2. Monkey Pod - beautiful but darn near impossible for me to turn well. Tear out is amazingly bad. And it "furs up" when it tears out. Have tried every type of cut, every tool in my arsenal. UNBELIEVABLE P.I.A. to work with for me. And the grain density variation is also incredible. Resorted to sanding to attempt to clean up what I would normally shear scrape, or light NRS scrape ( BOTH of those methods created hellacious tear out ...) And it sands so uneven that it ripples the surface of the wood - with the growth rings - lower density - divot.....light sanding pressure, lather mounted, lowest speed on lathe, and tried random orbit sander as well as angle drill. 2" sanding disks with soft pad ...and 5" Hannes Tool flexible backing pad.....
Completely out of ideas, and almost ready to have a very expensive bonfire......
Can anyone who has worked with this specific wood offer any magic or miracle suggestions? PLEASE?
1. Camphor. Love the look - but cannot turn it because my lathe is in the basement of my house. The stench is too strong for the Mrs. to tolerate.
2. Monkey Pod - beautiful but darn near impossible for me to turn well. Tear out is amazingly bad. And it "furs up" when it tears out. Have tried every type of cut, every tool in my arsenal. UNBELIEVABLE P.I.A. to work with for me. And the grain density variation is also incredible. Resorted to sanding to attempt to clean up what I would normally shear scrape, or light NRS scrape ( BOTH of those methods created hellacious tear out ...) And it sands so uneven that it ripples the surface of the wood - with the growth rings - lower density - divot.....light sanding pressure, lather mounted, lowest speed on lathe, and tried random orbit sander as well as angle drill. 2" sanding disks with soft pad ...and 5" Hannes Tool flexible backing pad.....
Completely out of ideas, and almost ready to have a very expensive bonfire......
Can anyone who has worked with this specific wood offer any magic or miracle suggestions? PLEASE?
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