Holy Wood

[PChristy]

Has anyone ever done any scroll saw work with Holy?

[DaveO]

I haven't, but Holly is a fine grained wood, and should be ideal for scroll work. The problem would be in finding it. It is definitely considered a specialty species and is difficult to find in any good widths. You might get some burning just due to it's light color not the sugar content. I have turned some pens and bowls from Holly and they come out like porcelain.

Dave

[cskipper]

I've never scolled Holly, so do not know how it would scroll.

[ScottM]

I just picked up a couple pieces of 4/4 holly last weekend at the wood run. I have not used any yet but I understand it is like hard maple.

[mkepke]

I have scroll-sawn a little bit of holly for inlay work (so 1/8" material). It's a big more dense than hard maple.

I don't recall a problem with burning but I was using thin stock.

-Mark

I assume you mean Holly and not Holy wood...

Holly is quite hard to find - last place I seen it for sale (except for the few boards I had at the last lumber run) was Internet lumber for $18.00 a BF that was for rough cut #1 ~ #2. I would hate to see how much the upper grades go for. The reason it's so high priced is it'll do all kinds of weird things when it dries so you have to cut the boards extra thick and expect a lot of drying defect - upwards of 70%. Trees don't get very big, are usually stacked with limbs top to bottom, and the leafs will tear you up when you harvest one. The lumber is usually slap full of knots because of the way the tree grows.

It's a very unique wood, hard and strong, requires sharp tooling at a low speed or it will burn. As a mater of fact - the wood don't look much like wood at all - it's totally closed grain and looks more like plastic or porcelain than wood after it's finished. It's a great contrast wood for wild black cherry.

It's pretty cool looking take a look at one of DaveO's holly pens




And Clowman's







Thanks

[PChristy]

Jeff, I thought that didn't look right - "Holy Wood" Thanks everyone for the info - I have a friend that is clearing some of his woods out and he has some pretty good size Holly's on his land and I have already got one of them and I am going to get another one this Fall -- Hope to make some Christmas ornaments out of it -

Originally Posted by PLC'woodart

Jeff, I thought that didn't look right - "Holy Wood" Thanks everyone for the info - I have a friend that is clearing some of his woods out and he has some pretty good size Holly's on his land and I have already got one of them and I am going to get another one this Fall -- Hope to make some Christmas ornaments out of it -

No worries - if you got a decent saw log +12" DIB (Diameter Inside Bark) small end (8' - 6" long or better) - I would recommend at least 2 coats of ancorseal on the log ends applied immediately after the log is cut off the stump and bucked to length. Mill it the same day, it's important to not wait any longer than 24 hours after the tree was fallen to mill (doing so will make yellow / green colored - not withe holly lumber). Mill at NIGHT do not open up the log in the sun light, sunlight will also turn your lumber yellow. Mill by Toe'ing up the small end till the pith is centered on the mill and slab top to bottom @ 5/4 (don't flip the log even once). Reassemble the log, sticking each layer no more than 12" apart and no more than 3" from the ends with 1" or bigger dry stickers. Take at least four 2" ratchet straps (10,000 lb rated) 1 on each end and 2 evenly spaced from the center to the end (5 evenly placed straps for a 8' log would be better) ratchet down good and tight Make sure your straps are in line with your sticks so you don't bend the slabs when you tighten the straps. Move the reassmebled log to a dark or very shady place, under a roof where the rain won't get to it and place at least 8" off the ground. Walk by every week or so and re-tighten the straps as much as you can. Once the slabs are air dried , move the log - ratchet straps intact to a kiln for polishing off. Make sure you pay the kiln operator to "stress relieve" your holly - he'll inject steam into the chamber to rehydrate the lumber then pull the moisture in the lumber back out again. If you don't stress relieve you will be in for a big surprise when it hit's your table saw (you can't say I didn't warn you). This will produce the best quality boards when you finally are able to pop the ratchets loose (after it comes out of the kiln) - without a lot of force, throughout the entire drying cycle - Holly will do all kinds of strange things. It needs to stay in the dark until completely dry else it will turn yellow. Expect to get 3/4" finished boards out of the 5/4 (1 3/8) rough - it's going to move a lot more than other woods do.

If I were you - anything less than 12 DIB small end and 8' 6" long) - I wouldn't bother milling - but you might want to consider making bowl blanks or something like that out of it?

[Nice Figures]

I turn holly quite often, I like working with it and if anyone's at the coast we have quite a bit of nice white turning stock and 8/4 rough lumber. You can probable find someone that has just taken a tree down and get it for free but if you want nice white holly you're better off buying it already kiln dried. The whiter, wider and thicker it is the more expensive it is. Holly also has quite a few knots, that's another thing to watch out for if you are buying site unseen.

[PChristy]

Thanks for the info Jeff - That sure does help me out alot - I might be using the Holly I have now for kindling - When I get the other one this Fall I will do better