Anybody try Lilac?

[Wandere]

I just looked at Whalers nice stoppers and thought to myself....good grief! I've tossed a lot of ancient 16"+ circumferance lilac that could have been used by a wood turner!

Is Lilac turnable? I've got a few more smaller trees that may be removed...pity, they're tall and very old/knarled...but in an absolutely terrible place and are too big to be moved. I remember seeing a lot of purple when I cut them.

If it's usable stuff, I'll probably just offer it for free locally. If not, no biggie.

Oh, and good job on those stoppers whaler! I'm new to woodworking of all kinds, turning looks like it could be a fun process of discovery....used to spend hours cleaning up fossils for that very reason.

-Rob

[Russianwolf]

I've heard of it being used. And I have my eye on parts of a bush in my yard.

[ragswl4]

YIKES! Lilac brings back very bad childhood memories. When I was really, really bad (like the time my brother and I burned down the garage) my father would have me go out and cut a branch from the lilac bush to give me an a-- whoopin. The whoopin was never so bad but the anticapation of what was to come while I was cutting that branch was pure h-ll.

[Wandere]

lol, that's funny...I thought about turning a lilac whip handle but wouldn't know what to do with it...until now...you're on the Christmas list if I start turning :P

[gsmittle]

YIKES! Lilac brings back very bad childhood memories. When I was really, really bad (like the time my brother and I burned down the garage) my father would have me go out and cut a branch from the lilac bush to give me an a-- whoopin. The whoopin was never so bad but the anticapation of what was to come while I was cutting that branch was pure h-ll.

And if the branch was too small, he'd go cut his own, which was much, much worse. Not exactly fond memories....

g.

[Russianwolf]

And if the branch was too small, he'd go cut his own, which was much, much worse. Not exactly fond memories....

g.

And you better not bring back the dry brittle one either.......

[RWBOB]

Turning Lilac

One of my seasonal favorites is turning Christmas ornaments -- based on a article out of an old WOOD Magazine. One key difference is that I prefer to use a wide variety of woods, wild ones when I can get my hands on it.

This year I turned a couple from prunings from my neighbour's lilac. It turned better than most and had some wonderful grain and character.

[Wandere]

Sounds like a lot of fun...we want pics

[guycox]

I found a turing article that addresses Lilac - starts on page 6 http://www.wgo.ca/newsletters/wgo_ne...H2007_rev4.pdf

[eccentrictinkerer]

YIKES! Lilac brings back very bad childhood memories. When I was really, really bad (like the time my brother and I burned down the garage) my father would have me go out and cut a branch from the lilac bush to give me an a-- whoopin. The whoopin was never so bad but the anticapation of what was to come while I was cutting that branch was pure h-ll.

Reminds of my Dad's favorite story of a little boy who'd been gone all day one nice summer day. His mom asked him what been doing. He said he'd been down the street watching a house being built.

His mom theasked him if he'd learned anything interesting. He said "yeah, I learned to talk carpenter". Mom said "Well, tell me something learned".

The little boy grabbed a yardstick and had his mom hold it up aginst the wall. Then he said "Move the (expletive deleted) top end to the left about a (expletive deleted) inch".

Mom was mortified and told her son that she would not tolerate that kind of language in her house and ordered him to go out to the lilac bush and cut her a switch.

The boy said "Forget that (expletive deleted), that's (expletive deleted) electricians work!".