turning Banksia pods - Woodworking Talk

john lucas · 05-22-2008, 05:14 PM

Here are my latest attempts at turning these things. the first is a lidded box with a Tagua nut "pearl" inside the lid. The second I designed as a spoon rest for the stove but I think most people would use this for change or keys on thier dresser.

Aaronmcc · 05-22-2008, 06:44 PM

Very cool. Did the wood already have the holes in it?

john lucas · 05-22-2008, 10:48 PM

It is not actually wood. A Banksia pod is a see pod somewhat like a pine cone but very solid inside so it turns like wood. The holes are there already as you can tell by the natural edge. There is a fine red hair just below the outer level so use a dust collector because this stuff is nasty.

Night Mill Bill · 05-23-2008, 04:47 AM

Beautiful work!

Never having heard of Banksia Pods, I had to look them up, and found a few useful links. This is a very nice step by step intro/project:

http://www.woodturningdesign.com/onl...ngedbowl.shtml

Or a bunch of them in the raw here:

http://www.righteouswoods.net/banksi...pods_pics.html

And on the actual tree here:

http://www.aussiestockphotos.com/pho...otos/detail/97

I wonder if they grow stateside?

hughie · 05-23-2008, 05:20 AM

They grow very widely here in Oz. The Banksia family is very big
http://asgap.org.au/banksia.html.

The pods will very in length, some up wards of 12". The most common size is around 6-8", the dust is not very friendly so use good and effective dust collection.

Sharp tools area a must along with speed.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=35409

Aaronmcc · 05-23-2008, 04:05 PM

very unique. I bet it took a lot of skill, too.

Mitch Cholewinski · 06-09-2008, 12:35 AM

John
I missed seeing this one somehow John. Another beautiful effort on your part. Mitch

john lucas · 06-09-2008, 12:19 PM

Mitch I've been having fun with the Banksia pods lately. I just discovered yesterday that they bleach well so look for some colored Banksia pod pieces in the near future. I'm also working on a hand mirror that I slab cut the pod and glued it to regular wood like a veneer. Then I filled in the voids with Black Inlace. It's looking good. I've got more work to do on the finish.