Cholla Cactus

[Jerry Marcantel]

Allen, I see you didn't waste any time on working that piece. He just got it yesterday, I think. Looks pretty good, and thanks for the idea of plugging the hole so the chuck could get a bite on it. You did good....
Thanks for posting the pics...... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Michelle Rich]

very interesting material..good job keeping it all together..

[Allen Neighbors]

Wow! So many comments, and I don't know if I can answer all of them, because I can't remember them all.
To start with, Thomas, I'm not hard-up for wood to turn. I thought it would be neat to turn some of this... into pens or small handles. I didn't know it would be this big. I love it! And I wouldn't even think of trading my Colorado trip... even for SWAT.

John Keeton, thanks for the idea... I might make a small shallow bowl from one of the other pieces, and fill the voids with Turquoise. I used CA to glue the Walnut into the bottom, and it adhered almost immediately, even as dry as it was. The only part that is hollow is the center... just about the size of that Walnut Plug... and that part goes all the way through.

Neil, you stated it correctly... challenging, porous, stringy, and dusty. And if I hadn't cut it so short, I might have been able to get a nicer form from it... But even with all three of my fans blowing across it, the dust still fogged the place. And with all the little hairy strings sticking out it is a little bit tedious, trying to get them out of the way so you can get the finish applied. I dipped it into Danish, but when buffing, they tend to grab at the wiping towels.

David, if you got some of it, and turned it... well... no pics/didn't happen...
Thanks, everybody, for all the nice comments. They are really appreciated.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow - talk about a conversation piece! Love all the voids, the colors and the overall texture of the piece! Very nice work! First hollow form I've seen out of this material! Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[Jacob Robinson]

Thats quite the feat. a different breed of Cholla grows where i live, (its all small, most of it is about an inch or 2 in diameter tops) but someone around here has been finding larger pieces and making furniture out of it, using it for arms and legs on chairs and benches and tables, they are just sanding the outside and lacquering it from what i've seen, and your finish is far more attractive than theirs. Personally, I think the furniture is ugly, but its a testament to how versatile the stuff can be i guess. almost make me want to go gather a few sticks and see what i can make.
good luck turning more of it! looking forward to seeing it!

[Frank Van Atta]

I use Cholla quite a lot for accent, like this ornament:



This is Carob and Cholla and Wenge. A cross section of Cholla in the body of the ornament, and several small pieces fit together and filled with Wenge dust to make the "ball" in the finial.

Yes, Leo, this is the infamous "jumping cactus" - aka Teddy Bear Cholla. It doesn't actually "jump" but the spines are so loosely attached that the slightest touch will dislodge them, and they attach themselves pretty firmly with slightly fish hook shaped spines. Another reason people think they "jump" is that they step on the little spines that are scattered all over the ground, then their shoe brushes their clothes or leg as they walk and the spines are transferred from shoe to you. Since you were nowhere near the actual cactus, the spines must have "jumped" off at you.

To take this cactus and "don't you have enough wood to turn" thing a little further - I also use the skeletons of Prickly Pear for inlay (not an original idea with me, I learned it from the IAP website where someone was imbedding the skeletons in acrylic and making pens):



This is a 2" pendant is made of Kingwood with an Inlay of Prickly Pear Skeleton filled with Turquoise and an accent ring of Silver cream laid in the groove.

[Richard Madison]

Cactus practice? Usually fun and interesting to turn something different.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I use Cholla quite a lot for accent, like this ornament:



This is Carob and Cholla and Wenge. A cross section of Cholla in the body of the ornament, and several small pieces fit together and filled with Wenge dust to make the "ball" in the finial.

Yes, Leo, this is the infamous "jumping cactus" - aka Teddy Bear Cholla. It doesn't actually "jump" but the spines are so loosely attached that the slightest touch will dislodge them, and they attach themselves pretty firmly with slightly fish hook shaped spines. Another reason people think they "jump" is that they step on the little spines that are scattered all over the ground, then their shoe brushes their clothes or leg as they walk and the spines are transferred from shoe to you. Since you were nowhere near the actual cactus, the spines must have "jumped" off at you.

To take this cactus and "don't you have enough wood to turn" thing a little further - I also use the skeletons of Prickly Pear for inlay (not an original idea with me, I learned it from the IAP website where someone was imbedding the skeletons in acrylic and making pens):



This is a 2" pendant is made of Kingwood with an Inlay of Prickly Pear Skeleton filled with Turquoise and an accent ring of Silver cream laid in the groove.

Thanks for showing Frank, I am quite familiar with Cactus plants, used to grow them and studied al there was to find about them, had memberships in the Dutch, American Cactus and Succulent society, still get the Dutch magazine, I did have several hundred different cacti species, till I got an infestation a few years ago, and lost all but a dozen or two, haven't got the time and inclination to start the collection all over again

As for the spines of the Opuntia cacti (Cholla belongs in there) they grow as layers, like singles on the roof, when these spines enter (just about anything ) the layers will prevent them from releasing and yes they will hang onto anything they contact but glass and steel.

I had a little bit of an accident one time, luckily just regular Cereus type cacti with the normal smooth spines, and got a good hundred spines into the top of both hands, and this happened just the evening before we were to travel to the west coast by car, had to go to emergency as one spine went through the knuckle of my right index finger and locked it, they pulled it through but weren't going to touch all the other spines.
It was for a few days of sore driving I tell you , till after they all became infected and I could squeeze the area around the spine and then they would pop out, I'll never forget that one