# Huge old Lilac Bush... worth harvesting the wood?



## Monolith

Hi everyone!

I just took down a massive lilac bush that was about 30 ft tall.  There are some pretty good size pieces of wood -- is this something anyone would be interested in buying?  Should I bother cutting it up, or just burn it?

Cheers,
Jon


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## KenV

Lilac often has nice colors running through it.   Locally it also tends to have some rot in the core that limits use.  I have seen some nice pens and small turned boxes from Lilac.   

Better for turning than burning -- but I cannot comment on the opportunity to sell it in the raw.


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## robutacion

Monolith said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> I just took down a massive lilac bush that was about 30 ft tall.  There are some pretty good size pieces of wood -- is this something anyone would be interested in buying?  Should I bother cutting it up, or just burn it?
> 
> Cheers,
> Jon



Hi Jon,

I just noticed that this was your first post so, I "assume" that you only joined in to find any interested members for the purchase of your wood, right...???

Not that is illegal or anything like that but, you don't say if you do any pen turning or any other wood turnings, which would make sense that you would keep some for yourself and if too much of it, you could certainly sell some here, I'm not familiar with the Lilac wood but I would expect to be quite usable for all sorts of turnings, including pens.

In any case, I would not burn it and would cut it as long pieces as you can store them somewhere, someone will by some off you...!

Good luck...!

Cheers
George


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## juteck

Seal/wax it quickly after you cut - Lilac will split.  Tough to keep big pieces without splitting unless you rough turn and dry slowly.  Drying after a soak in denatured alcohol (DNA) also works well with lilac --- search the other woodturning forums for "DNA drying" or similar key words -- lots of information out there on it.  

Cut pen blank sizes, bottle stopper sizes, and small box sizes.  Before trying to sell it, soak in DNA and dry it, or wax it and give it some time to dry before selling. After that, you can sort out the ones that split, and sell those off for casters to use with their worthless wood castings, and the remaining ones as good blanks.  It can have some very nice grain between sapwood and heartwood, even crotch figure -- don't expect the purple hues to remain though -- all the lilac I've used tends to dull to a brownish color.  

turn it --- don't burn it.


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## Monolith

robutacion said:


> Monolith said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi everyone!
> 
> I just took down a massive lilac bush that was about 30 ft tall.  There are some pretty good size pieces of wood -- is this something anyone would be interested in buying?  Should I bother cutting it up, or just burn it?
> 
> Cheers,
> Jon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jon,
> 
> I just noticed that this was you first post so, I "assume" that you only joined in to find any interested members for the purchase of your wood, right...???
> 
> Not that is illegal or anything like that but, you don't say if you do any pen turning or any other wood turnings, which would make sense that you would keep some for yourself and if too much of it, you could certainly sell some here, I'm not familiar with the Lilac wood but I would expect to be quite usable for all sorts of turnings, including pens.
> 
> In any case, I would not burn it and would cut it as long pieces as you can store them somewhere, someone will by some off you...!
> 
> Good luck...!
> 
> Cheers
> George
Click to expand...


Nah, I don't do any wood-turning myself, i'm just familiar with the craft.  I figured it'd be rare for any woody shrub to get large enough to produce usable wood; and who better to ask than folks who mostly only use small pieces?

I cut it about 5 days ago and its just been sitting in a pile outside.  Is it too late to wax the ends?


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## Monolith

Oh, there's also some pretty big "burl" pieces.  I put that in quotes because i'm not positive it qualifies as burl... actually, let me go take some pics, its right outside my door anyway! lol


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## 1080Wayne

[quote
I cut it about 5 days ago and its just been sitting in a pile outside.  Is it too late to wax the ends?[/quote]


Cut about an inch off each end and wax immediately .


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## Monolith

Where do i get the wax?  Anything else I might have on hand that i can substitute?


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## kovalcik

You should be able to find paraffin wax at your local grocery store.  You can try loading up the ends with a few coats of shellac or poly. Not as good as wax, and more expensive, but better than nothing.   

I see you are in the Northeast.  I am in Southeast NH.  Are you close by?


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## robutacion

Monolith said:


> Where do i get the wax?  Anything else I might have on hand that i can substitute?



Absolutely, I use gloss acrylic paint (exterior is better) to paint the ends of my logs and because I use whatever colours I can get cheap (mainly colour stuff-ups from the paint section on the hardware stores), you would see the looks I get from people passing by on the road looking into the open storage paddock where I store the big stuff...! the only thing you can see is there round circles pile up on of different colours...!:biggrin: 

One good coat is sufficient to seal the wood surface, if the paint is the type I mention, otherwise, 2 coats will be required...!

I only use wax on woods that are cut to size (blanks, round, square, etc.), this is more presentable and you can see what is behind it...!:wink:

PS: Please note that, if you mention the word "BURL" you will get jumped on, fast...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## Monolith

Will beeswax work?  Or does it have to be petroleum based?


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## Lenny

Anchorseal works well. Look for it at lumberyards that sell IPE decking.


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## Monolith

kovalcik said:


> You should be able to find paraffin wax at your local grocery store.  You can try loading up the ends with a few coats of shellac or poly. Not as good as wax, and more expensive, but better than nothing.
> 
> I see you are in the Northeast.  I am in Southeast NH.  Are you close by?



I'm in Midcoast ME, probably a couple hours north of you.  Want some?  You can have some for free if I can get a pen out of it.


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## Monolith

Lenny said:


> Anchorseal works well. Look for it at lumberyards that sell IPE decking.



Ah cool, i'll give that a shot.  Rubbing all these pieces with beeswax would take me forever. :/


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## Lincoln Street

I have a fishing rod handle turned from Lilac. It is one of my favorites and grain pattern on this one is very nice with a contrast in color. After I showed my wife the rod handle she guards her lilac tress pretty close.


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## wb7whi

Monolith said:
			
		

> Ah cool, i'll give that a shot.  Rubbing all these pieces with beeswax would take me forever. :/



Melt the wax in an old pot then dip the wood

Wayne


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## underdog

Anything to seal the end grain as soon as possible. Old Latex paint, spray can paint, paraffin, lacquer, polyurethane, etc. etc. Just get some on there...

You can always cut an inch or two off and reapply something better, but you can't unsplit the wood...


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## robutacion

Hey Monolith...! no one has mention yet, the rule number one here at IAP, "No pictures, didn't happen...!":wink:

We all love pics, huh..., boys and gals...???:biggrin:

Making a sale here without pics, is like turning wood with your fingernails, a very painful thing...!:frown:

Cheers
George


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## ohiococonut

George I agree on both counts lol! 
He did say he was going to take pics since it was right outside his door :wink:


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## Monolith

Sorry!  Anyone know of a good free pic host for large pictures?


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## robutacion

Monolith said:


> Sorry!  Anyone know of a good free pic host for large pictures?



Photobucket, is what I use...!

You get the free version that still allow you a decent storage space, or the paid version with a few more bells and whistles...!

Using the IAP photo download system, mostly of what we use or normal threads/post, is good and simple enough to share the images, the thumbnail downloads and by clicking it, it will open in a fair size for viewing...!

Cheers
George


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## Monolith

Nevermind, I just cropped the pics and uploaded them here.  Click on the photos by my username for bigger versions!


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## Monolith




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## Monolith




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## Curly

Monolith said:


> Sorry!  Anyone know of a good free pic host for large pictures?



Re-shoot the pictures at the lowest resolution (640x480, VGA) your camera has. Then the pics are perfect to post as is and they will always be here for people to see. You know it is the correct setting because your camera will show a picture count many times higher than at full resolution. Like in the thousands.


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## Lenny

So Monolith, where in midcoast Maine are you? 
You can't get much more mid-coast then ME!  :biggrin:


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## robutacion

Great stuff, mate...!:wink:

You just need to learn to download all the pics in one post as thumbnails, is very easy and most times the pics open even bigger than in the IAP photo album.

Regardless of what size pics your camera give to your pics, you only need some software to reduce to the correct size before downloading.  There are a few free versions of that type software available...!

Thanks for putting the pics in, was never any doubt of your "claims" but it makes things so much easier to actually see what you're talking about...!:wink::biggrin:

Thank you...!

Cheers
George


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## Monolith

NP. 

If I leave a lot of this uncoated, will the checking on the ends extend all the way through the piece?

Lenny, i'm a good hour south of you in Newcastle.  Wanna take a drive? lol


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## Daniel

Just some thoughts as I read this thread. In your close up of the 3 inch diameter. it looks like a lot of splitting has already started. the wood may very well be savable but it is going to take some work.

As far as the "Burl" Better to stay away from that word. Nothing against you it is just a term that tends to get abused. To many people have claimed any wood with anything other than a straight grain is a burl when in fact Burl is a very specific grain pattern as well as condition in the wood. It woudl be safer to simply call it crotch or better yet "Figured Grain" the figured grain is a pretty broad term for anythign that is not straight grain and covers a lot of territory. It will allow you to describe the grain as something other than normal but not leave buyers with a wrong impression.

do get that splitting at the ends under control and I am sure that someone would be interesting in giving it a spin.


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## Daniel

I just saw your last question. The cracking is a result of parts of the wood drying faster than other parts the log looses water through the end grain faster than through the side or bark. The sealing of the end is an attempt to slow the loss of water at the end. and yes the more the wood cracks the faster it can loose water through the end. the cracking can get so bad it may very nearly split the log in half. in this case it is jsut fracturing the log in small pieces. regardless it will continue through the log.

as the log dries it will shrink but you want the log to shrink as equally as possible all at once. not from the ends inward.


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## Monolith

Ah, ok.

Can I just seal the cracked ends to halt any further splitting, or do I need to cut the split ends off and then seal?


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## 1080Wayne

You need to cut them off back to a point where there are no splits , probably an amount at least equal to the diameter of the piece .


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## robutacion

A good log length measurement rule for what you've got there is to have it in increments of 6" as pen blanks are about 5" long, so the longer the pieces the better, less ends to seal and crack.  I find that logs lengths at about 50" (127cm) are easy to handle and store, for a small diameter wood such as yours..!

Cheers
George


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## Monolith

Should I be sealing along the length of the logs where i'm taking off sappers?  Or is that not an issue?


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## robutacion

Monolith said:


> Should I be sealing along the length of the logs where i'm taking off sappers?  Or is that not an issue?



Is not an issue if they are less than 1" diameter, otherwise the wood all around it will crack...!

PS: By the time, you're done with the job, you will be a qualified timber sealer...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## Monolith

haha, thanks!  Although i'm starting to regret that I didn't just burn it... lol.


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## Monolith

Alright, so I finally finished re-cutting All the lilac and sealing the ends with anchorseal.

Now... is anyone interested in some of this for free in exchange for a pen?


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## 19dobey

*Interested*

If you still happen to have any Lilac. Just wondering if it is American with the purple stripes in the grain, or the Persian Lilac? My email is 19dobey@gmail.com let me know please.


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## JimB

19dobey said:


> If you still happen to have any Lilac. Just wondering if it is American with the purple stripes in the grain, or the Persian Lilac? My email is 19dobey@gmail.com let me know please.



The original post is 5 years old and the poster hasn't been on here in over 4 years.


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## 19dobey

JimB said:


> 19dobey said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you still happen to have any Lilac. Just wondering if it is American with the purple stripes in the grain, or the Persian Lilac? My email is 19dobey@gmail.com let me know please.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The original post is 5 years old and the poster hasn't been on here in over 4 years.
Click to expand...


Thanks. Thought it might be worth a shot. Only be able to find one other person with Lilac wood for sale anywhere.


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## TellicoTurning

Lilac tends to crack if not properly dried... I had some that was cut green, mailed to me across the U.S. and stored in my shop for a year... what I had was about a foot in length and maybe 4-7 inches diameter... I actually made a couple of pepper mills from it, but it had cracks swirling all up and down the mill.... lots of CA to keep it together.  Sure smelled nice in my shop as I was turning it.


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