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Tasmanian Myrtle

Odie

Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
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Location
Missoula, MT
Anyone work with Tasmanian Myrtle before? This is my first attempt at this wood......very beautiful reddish coloring, but a real bear to get a clean cut.

Unfortunately, I was suckered into buying this piece! :( It was advertised as Australian Myrtle Burl, but there is no burl figure here at all. It's embarrassing to tell you I paid $90 for this piece of wood! :oops: I saw a photo, but the wax coating was very thick, and I couldn't see very clearly what was being offered. All in all, it's a beautiful shade of red that I haven't seen before, and the grain is tight and dense.....a very aesthetic look to it.

Took a lot of extra time to do the final turning yesterday, because it was very difficult to get a clean cut on the end grain.......best I could do was to start at 180gt, and at that, was very time consuming. Just wondering if anyone else has turned this wood into a bowl?.......and if so, did they have a similar experience? I'm well aware that some woods of the same species can turn entirely differently, but since this is my first piece of Tasmanian Myrtle, I'm not too interested in getting more of this wood, unless I can expect a different turning experience.

ko
IMG_2738 (2).JPG
 
odie, not a wood expert. I do know it comes from trees, though. My complements on the bowl- nice job of turning and the finish. What did you use? Wipe on?
 
John Torchick said:
odie, not a wood expert. I do know it comes from trees ....
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert either, but I know it comes from Tasmania. :D First liar doesn't stand a chance.

Despite not being what you were expecting, Odie, I think that your perseverance won the day with a very nice looking bowl.
 
John Torchick said:
odie, not a wood expert. I do know it comes from trees, though. My complements on the bowl- nice job of turning and the finish. What did you use? Wipe on?
Click to expand...

Thanks John......it's Watco Danish Oil natural.

I'm not an expert either, but I have turned quite a few different worldwide species into bowls and platters. My usual "go to" for information is the wood database. The examples I'm seeing there are different in appearance from this one, but I see some images from google that are the same reddish coloring......identified as Australian Myrtle. Might be Myrtle, but not in the slightest similar to Oregon Myrtle.

ko
 
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