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Chinese Flame wood for turning?

Doug Olsen

Doug Olsen

Joined
Dec 2, 2011
Messages
66
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10
Location
San Leandro, CA
Has anyone turned Chinese Flame wood? What is your opinion about this wood? Pieces available from tree just cut down near me but I'm not familiar with this wood. If it is good for turning then I have many larger 12 to 16 inch diameter pieces available. Would hate to pass it up if viable.

Your comments will be appreciated.

Regards,
Doug Olsen
 
don’t know that tree.

what I do with unfamiliar wood is turn a NE bowl from a smaller log section or a shallow one slabbed off a larger log.
takes 10-20 minutes and i Lear a Loy about the wood in a day or so I know how it dries and May learn something about the color change,

take a small piece turn something from it you can do in a few minutes.
goblet, sphere, NE bowl, egg….
 
hockenbery said:
don’t know that tree.

what I do with unfamiliar wood is turn a NE bowl from a smaller log section or a shallow one slabbed off a larger log.
takes 10-20 minutes and i Lear a Loy about the wood in a day or so I know how it dries and May learn something about the color change,

take a small piece turn something from it you can do in a few minutes.
goblet, sphere, NE bowl, egg….
Click to expand...
Thanks Al for your response.

That is my plan, I retrieved a 12 inch long by 10" diameter piece. I'll cut it tomorrow and make a bowl with a thick wall then put it into my kiln (old dishwasher with a reptile heater) which gets to about 100 degrees and remains at that temp. Then I will check the piece every few days, weigh and record it until it gets down to less than 10 percent. Should take about four weeks but perhaps longer because this wood is very wet. Sorry for my ignorance about "Lear a Loy". What is this?
 
The tree is often confused with the Golden Rain tree, with is in the Acacia family and that one is frost hardy some.

The Chinese flame tree in not frost hardy, a summer flowering tree, here is some info of a person that did cut one down.

Chinese flame tree.jpg

koelreuteria.jpg
 
Doug Olsen said:
Thanks Al for your response.

That is my plan, I retrieved a 12 inch long by 10" diameter piece. I'll cut it tomorrow and make a bowl with a thick wall then put it into my kiln (old dishwasher with a reptile heater) which gets to about 100 degrees and remains at that temp. Then I will check the piece every few days, weigh and record it until it gets down to less than 10 percent. Should take about four weeks but perhaps longer because this wood is very wet. Sorry for my ignorance about "Lear a Loy". What is this?
Click to expand...
If I do a NE bowl in one turn with a 3/16” wall it will be dry enough in 3 days to sand and finish.
then i see the finished wood and how much it shrinks.

from the other posts it looks like a nice wood
 
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