Figured Oregon Myrtle finally finished and photographed

[Leo Van Der Loo]

This is from the Oregon Myrtle I received from Reed Gray in May of this year, 12” X 12” X 5” heavy and dripping wet.

I decided then to slab it into 2 equal pieces so as to have two pieces to turn.

I figured to make a shallow piece and a footed piece, the shallow piece is shown here, so 12” X 2.5” approx.

The wood is not a easily turned wood, as I discovered right away while rough turning it, but by the time I got close to the final shape I had found how to get a clean cut with my cutting tools, no scrapers for me here.

The footed piece I will show in a separate post.

I sanded this piece up to 600 grit, than added 2 coats of my regular Tung oil finish, this wood has some figure and shows chatoyance when viewed while changing the angle while looking at it, it also shows the first slight sign of fungal staining on the endgrain, probably from being packed in a plastic bag while being shipped to my address up here, only a very close look will show it, not bad at all.

Comments, any and all are welcome .


Oregon Myrtle.jpg Oregon Myrtle 1.jpg Oregon Myrtle 2.jpg Oregon Myrtle profile.jpg Oregon Myrtle bottom.jpg

[Jay Mullins]

Very nice. I look forward to seeing the footed piece.

Be Well

Jay

[Reed Gray]

It does have an interlocking grain. The log I got that from cut with a lot of tear out until it had sat on the ground for a couple of months, then it cut a lot cleaner. Just because. I love the smell too, usually kind of sweet spicy, though some times some pieces smell like the horse stall... The higher the grit is that you polish with, the more it glows. One of those magic woods.

robo hippy

[robert baccus]

Very nice work and wonderful wood. Not much of that in Texas.

[Frederick Skelly]

That's a beautifil piece. I like the detailing around the rim and on the bottom. The wood is gorgeous!
Fred

[Jamie Straw]

It does have an interlocking grain. The log I got that from cut with a lot of tear out until it had sat on the ground for a couple of months, then it cut a lot cleaner. Just because. I love the smell too, usually kind of sweet spicy, though some times some pieces smell like the horse stall... The higher the grit is that you polish with, the more it glows. One of those magic woods.

robo hippy

Reed, I have some super-dry myrtle, what should I expect from it? It'll be awhile before having time to tackle it. The part about the horse stall explains why one of our pros hates myrtle -- most other people I've asked about it have had no problem, but if his sample smelled like a horse stall, would have put him off for sure.

[Reed Gray]

Jamie, it will most likely be very hard and dusty as well. I don't like kiln/kill dried and avoid it when ever possible. Air dried is much better. Just take it slow, at least till you figure out how it is turning. The dry stuff will do exceptionally well with a NRS or shear scrape, even with the big ugly tool which seems to have a coarse burr no matter how I sharpen them.

robo hippy

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Very nice. I look forward to seeing the footed piece.

Be Well

Jay

Thanks for your reply Jay , I do have the picture on my desktop, but have been too busy, as we have Thanksgiving now up here in Canada and so good times with the family and grandkids first

[Leo Van Der Loo]

It does have an interlocking grain. The log I got that from cut with a lot of tear out until it had sat on the ground for a couple of months, then it cut a lot cleaner. Just because. I love the smell too, usually kind of sweet spicy, though some times some pieces smell like the horse stall... The higher the grit is that you polish with, the more it glows. One of those magic woods.

robo hippy

Again thanks for the wood Reed, it is quite pretty when finished well, not a very hard wood and not the easiest wood to turn either, but well worth the effort IMO

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Very nice work and wonderful wood. Not much of that in Texas.

Thanks Robert , yes I agree very good looking wood, and sorry to say, just as much of it growing up here as over at your area

[Leo Van Der Loo]

That's a beautifil piece. I like the detailing around the rim and on the bottom. The wood is gorgeous!
Fred

Thanks for taking the time to look and replying Fred , I do appreciate it.

[Prashun Patel]

That's beautiful wood. I love quartersawn turnings. Does the orientation contribute to its difficulty to turn?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Reed, I have some super-dry myrtle, what should I expect from it? It'll be awhile before having time to tackle it. The part about the horse stall explains why one of our pros hates myrtle -- most other people I've asked about it have had no problem, but if his sample smelled like a horse stall, would have put him off for sure.

I’m not Reed Jamie, but if my experience with just the two pieces tells me anything, I’d say it is not going to be an easy turn, it did like to pluck some with my acute turning gouges, I had to adjust the angles of attack and then got a clean cut surface.

Started sanding at 240 and went up to 600, vey nice surface by that time, here’s a picture of the second piece just sanded with no finish on it yet.

Oregon Myrtle footed platter bottom.jpg