29-11-2011, 10:10 PM
A familiar tale - someone wanting summat for nowt!
I don't think the average guy even thinks about what effort is involved in converting felled trees into usable timber. The main problem for most hobby turners is that of seasoning green timber. You can, and many do, turn unseasoned timber into rough bowls with say a 1" wall thickness, then leave it to season for a few months. It warps of course, but the drying process is speeded up, and the bowl can then be re-mounted on the lathe and trued up and turned thinner to finish it. Otherwise, unless kiln dried, I think the yardstick is one year for each inch thickness of the timber.
Part-seasoned turning blanks of such timbers as sycamore and beech say 10” diam x 3” deep cost £10 - £15 depending on where from. A 6” diam x 3” blank will cost £6.00 - £8.00. It sounds expensive, but when you knock the VAT off, the retailers profit, and back down the line to the original tree and all involved in converting it to bowl blanks, no-one is getting rich quick on the deal. Spalted beech is highly prized by woodturners – the ‘spalting’ being a fungal infestation that creeps through generally felled trees, especially beech, and leaves what look like spidery black lines through the timber, which give it an attractive appearance. It’s allegedly carcinogenic, and not considered food safe for such things as salad bowls or fruit bowls. It's not to everyone's liking. I've attached a pic of a little 'finial box' that I turned in spalted beech, about 3" diam and 5" tall with the finial. It was a bit of a clumsy effort with an ungainly finial, and I've only attached it to show the effect of spalting.
I'm often approached by people who have felled or are about to fell trees, to ask if our Club members are interested but invariably they aren't. A Vicar who has done a bit of woodturning approached me and said he'd had a couple of large yew trees felled, which were there for the taking. No-one was interested, though I collected some of the branchwood to turn a few mushrooms. The trees got put through a chipper, which is a tragic waste of timber. Yew turns beautifully and has an amazing pedigree. The heartwood and sapwood are clearly defined and one is strong in compression – the other in tension. This made it ideal for making longbows, and it’s no exaggeration that it helped win the battle of Agincourt. I believe that in the middle ages, because the climate in Italy was milder than ours, their yew bowstaves were held in high regard, and for this reason, Italian imports to this country such as wine, had a tax placed on them to be paid in bowstaves. I don’t think that even today, they’ve found a better material to make a longbow.
For hundreds of years it was mandatory for men below 60 to have bows and arrows and to practice archery, and even male children from 7 – 17 also had to.
A Statue in 33rd year of Henry's reign (1541) stated:
CAP. IX. An Act for the Maintenance of Artillery, and debarring unlawful Games. "RECITAL of Stats. 3 H.8.c.3. & 6 H.8.c.2. Several new devised Games the "Cause of the Decay of Archery. - All Men under the Age of sixty Years "shall have Bows and Arrows for shooting. Men-Children between Seven "Years and Seventeen shall have a Bow and 2 Shafts. Men about Seventeen "Years of Age shall keep a Bow and 4 Arrows - Penalty 6s.8d."
S1,2,3. "Shooting at Rovers. Shooting in Yew-bows. The Inhabitants of every Town "shall cut Butts and shoot at them."
S4. "Common Bows shall be made of "Elm, Ash, &c."
S5. Repealed 8 Eliz.c.10.s.6. "The prices of the several "Sorts of Bows."
S6. Repealed 8 El.c.10.s.6. "Sale of Seasonable Timber "by one Fletcher to another."
S7. "Bowyers and Fletchers, &c. not free "of London, shall upon Commandment dwell elsewhere."
S8. "Aliens shall "not convey Bows or Arrows beyond the Sea."
S9. "Aliens shall not use "shooting in Long-bows; Penalty forfeiture of Bows."
S10.
The requirement for all men under 60 to have bows and arrows wasn’t repealed until as recently as 1863!
Strewth, we'd get locked up for doing it now!
I don't think the average guy even thinks about what effort is involved in converting felled trees into usable timber. The main problem for most hobby turners is that of seasoning green timber. You can, and many do, turn unseasoned timber into rough bowls with say a 1" wall thickness, then leave it to season for a few months. It warps of course, but the drying process is speeded up, and the bowl can then be re-mounted on the lathe and trued up and turned thinner to finish it. Otherwise, unless kiln dried, I think the yardstick is one year for each inch thickness of the timber.
Part-seasoned turning blanks of such timbers as sycamore and beech say 10” diam x 3” deep cost £10 - £15 depending on where from. A 6” diam x 3” blank will cost £6.00 - £8.00. It sounds expensive, but when you knock the VAT off, the retailers profit, and back down the line to the original tree and all involved in converting it to bowl blanks, no-one is getting rich quick on the deal. Spalted beech is highly prized by woodturners – the ‘spalting’ being a fungal infestation that creeps through generally felled trees, especially beech, and leaves what look like spidery black lines through the timber, which give it an attractive appearance. It’s allegedly carcinogenic, and not considered food safe for such things as salad bowls or fruit bowls. It's not to everyone's liking. I've attached a pic of a little 'finial box' that I turned in spalted beech, about 3" diam and 5" tall with the finial. It was a bit of a clumsy effort with an ungainly finial, and I've only attached it to show the effect of spalting.
I'm often approached by people who have felled or are about to fell trees, to ask if our Club members are interested but invariably they aren't. A Vicar who has done a bit of woodturning approached me and said he'd had a couple of large yew trees felled, which were there for the taking. No-one was interested, though I collected some of the branchwood to turn a few mushrooms. The trees got put through a chipper, which is a tragic waste of timber. Yew turns beautifully and has an amazing pedigree. The heartwood and sapwood are clearly defined and one is strong in compression – the other in tension. This made it ideal for making longbows, and it’s no exaggeration that it helped win the battle of Agincourt. I believe that in the middle ages, because the climate in Italy was milder than ours, their yew bowstaves were held in high regard, and for this reason, Italian imports to this country such as wine, had a tax placed on them to be paid in bowstaves. I don’t think that even today, they’ve found a better material to make a longbow.
For hundreds of years it was mandatory for men below 60 to have bows and arrows and to practice archery, and even male children from 7 – 17 also had to.
A Statue in 33rd year of Henry's reign (1541) stated:
CAP. IX. An Act for the Maintenance of Artillery, and debarring unlawful Games. "RECITAL of Stats. 3 H.8.c.3. & 6 H.8.c.2. Several new devised Games the "Cause of the Decay of Archery. - All Men under the Age of sixty Years "shall have Bows and Arrows for shooting. Men-Children between Seven "Years and Seventeen shall have a Bow and 2 Shafts. Men about Seventeen "Years of Age shall keep a Bow and 4 Arrows - Penalty 6s.8d."
S1,2,3. "Shooting at Rovers. Shooting in Yew-bows. The Inhabitants of every Town "shall cut Butts and shoot at them."
S4. "Common Bows shall be made of "Elm, Ash, &c."
S5. Repealed 8 Eliz.c.10.s.6. "The prices of the several "Sorts of Bows."
S6. Repealed 8 El.c.10.s.6. "Sale of Seasonable Timber "by one Fletcher to another."
S7. "Bowyers and Fletchers, &c. not free "of London, shall upon Commandment dwell elsewhere."
S8. "Aliens shall "not convey Bows or Arrows beyond the Sea."
S9. "Aliens shall not use "shooting in Long-bows; Penalty forfeiture of Bows."
S10.
The requirement for all men under 60 to have bows and arrows wasn’t repealed until as recently as 1863!
Strewth, we'd get locked up for doing it now!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
