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lightning ash log pictures

George Watkins

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Jan 13, 2015
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hello folks

as i mentioned in the natural edge ash form thread here are the pics of the log which that wood comes from.

when i first seen the log it was at the bottom of a stack of logs and i just spotted a bit of the unusual texture from underneath the bark, I knew this texture meant there was unusual figure in the wood so i tagged my initials onto the end of the log and bought it. it was about 18 months later when the log was ready to collect

a close up of the unusual texture


the log measured 3' at the tagged end by 6' long and 4' at the far end which is the start of a crotch








you can see where the lightning traveled down the tree


I started by cutting a couple of inches of the end to clean it up and see whats what


the lightning strike had killed part of the tree and spalting had set in

I cut directly into the end of the log through the pith with the full depth of the bar 20", then went either side and cut into that depth giving me two semi circular logs
this was the view after 20" had been removed


and then again after another 20" as we get near the crotch section


I eventually remembered where I had seen the texture before and it was on an old elm tree that i had bought about 10 years ago. I am still researching the unusual grain pattern which wasn't caused by the lightning strike, but I have found an American woodworker who has seen it before in Maple trees and he says its caused my a beetle.
 

paulm

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Thats a superb log, I could make a few pens from that but I think the CMM might say something about me boiling it up on her cooker.
 

chas_41_uk

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Some fantastic texture in that log George and great to see the photos of what it looked like before you started making items from it :thumbs:
 

Penpal

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My first thought was getting a busted crotch moving that timber around the main thought is when you see bark like that move everything to obtain it. Well seen George. In Tasmania when this feature comes up the competition drops for these logs furniture makers go ballistic over straight grain. Thank you for the ball to ball commentary George the results are stunning the lesson well noted.

Peter.:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
 

Buckeye

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That's a great looking lump of wood.

Peter
 

Dalboy

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Nice lump my poor car would buckle under the weight if I had a lump like that. I think part of the art in cutting a lump like this is trying to see how a bowl or piece would look to get the best out of it.
 

Jim

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Oct 19, 2011
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What a beauty, hard to believe that such beauty is made by a damn beetle .. :rolling:
 


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