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Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge

Abingdon, VA – Tree Cutting & Portable Sawmill

Mesquite Hollow forms

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Mesquite Hollow forms

#1

Mesquite Hollow forms

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Hi Everyone,

Below are some pictures of a (2) Mesquite Hollow forms I turned over the past week.

I had never turned Mesquite before and was not prepared for the wonderful nature of this wood! The smell alone is enough to drive you completely nuts with hunger! I couldn't get the image of a huge platter of baby back ribs out of my mind. I got very popular with the guys down on the shop floor by handing out 1/4" x 1/4" x 6" long mesquite bbq-ing "sticks". These were all cut from the scrap left over from band-sawing out a blank.

The mesquite took an edge better than any wood I've turned so far. And the coloration in the sap and hardwood really floored me. Another nice feature of this wood is it's stability. Even if it's turned wet, it will retain it's shape nicely after drying.

Both of the forms were hollowed using a Scorpion Hollowing system. The (3) burned rings about each rim were made by holding veneer against a v-groove cut by a skew.




Specs:


Outer dia.: 7"


Opening dia.: 2 3/4"


Height: 2 1/2" and 2"


Wall thickness: 1/4"


Base dia.: 3" and 2 3/4"


Sanding Method: Dry sanded to 2000 Grit.


Finish: Watco's Danish Oil


Final: Buffed with Beall System



Thanks for viewing.

See ya around,

My ugly mug

Dominic


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Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#2

Pic #2 

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

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Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#3

Pic #3 

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

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Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#4

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms *LINK*

RevDoug

>Still looking good, Dom. Thanks for sharing.

Turn 'em round,

RevDoug


Wood Spun Round

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#5

Nice work Dom

Jorge Casta�eda ~ East Penobscot Bay

>That wood sure looks good, how hard is it?

Thanks for showing us

Jorge

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#6

Nicely done my friend

Dave Smith

>Hi Dominic,

I need some one to take pictures for me. I have enough trouble clearing space to get to the lathe and the Tormek.

Wonderful bowls. Wish I was going to 5 Barns this year. I'll settle for a trip to Custer, WA and seeing some old friends at Sophie's.

Dave Smith

Will trade wood for photography service in Longview, WA.

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#7

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

Ron in Drums PA

>Really Nice Dom. I have some mesquite coming my way, can'y wait.

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#8

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

Greg W. in NC

>Very nice Dom! Mesquite is definitely one of my favorite woods to turn!

Dom, were there any worm holes in the wood, and if so, how did you cover them (or did you?)

Having lived in Texas for most of my life, I burned thousands upon thousands of board feet of mesquite in clearing some of our properties. If I only knew then.....

Jorge, mesquite is a very hard wood.

Again Dom, nice job! I love the piece with the sap wood!

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#9

Hi Jorge! Mesquite info (long)

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>!Gracias mi amigo! I appreciate the compliments.

And Mesquite is VERY hard. Chris Padilla of Sawmill Creek found some very interesting information on it here:


Mesquite is quite a remarkable wood. There was a whole article in AW #87 (6/01) about it so I'll touch on the highlights:


Mesquite is exceptionally stable. Red Oak moves 11.3%, Maple moves 9.9%, Walnut moves 8.7 % and Mahogany moves 4.1%. Mesquite moves 2.6%! (The percent change in size is based on a swing in moisture content from 14% to 6%)


Mesquite doesn't distort or cup easily. If you take a tangential:radial ratio, Mesquite is at 1.2 while Red Oak is at 2.2 and Eastern White Pine is at 2.9. Cupping is usually the result of plain-sawn boards shrinking more in the tangential direction than radially. In most American species, this ratio is more than 2:1 but mesquite is closer to 1:1. This means boards tend to stay flat.


Mesquite is hard. The standard test for hardness is to measure the force it takes to drive a 7/16" steel ball half-way into a flatsawn board. In pounds of pressure, we have:



  • Pine is at ~660


  • Red Oak is at ~1120


  • Hard Maple is at ~1580


  • Mesquite is at ~2300





Mesquite's high silica content, high extractive content and extreme hardness can dull your tools quickly. Be sure to clean your tools (mineral spirits) to remove the buildup often. There isn't much oil in Mesquite so it can be sanded and glued easily. Due to its extreme hardness, it finishes quite nicely with fine sanding grits and buffing so very little finish is needed.


As we can tell, Mesquite truly shines on the lathe and turning green logs is the way to go. Since it dries with little change, go ahead and turn it and finish it green. It'll dry nice and slowly through the finish.

The sapwood of Mesquite, however, is a no-no as insects appear to LOVE it...even after finishing a product you could find bore holes and piles of yellow (the color of the sapwood) sawdust in place of your prized piece!


Hope the above snippet of information tells you what you need to know.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#10

Gracias Dom!

Jorge Casta�eda ~ East Penobscot Bay

>I appreciate the great info. Makes me feel like I really want to try it...

Re: Mesquite Hollow forms

#11

A bit more incentive

Bob Hackett

>I`ve been told by more than one caulker that mesquite is the premium wood for caulking mallet heads.

The old guy who did most of the high end stuff on critical jobs told me that you couldn`t get a better wood for mallets than"black screwbeam" he added that down south they knew it as mesquite.He also allowed as how it was almost as good as applewood when used to smoke things like turkey and fish.Knowing old Kenedy he probably used the ashes left from smoking to fertilize the garden.That man let nothing go to waste.

It was a real pleasure listening to the stories that he and Hutch used to tell about the early days of wooden boatbuilding on the Maine coast.Hutch started work at Sample`s at the age of 14.He was in his 70`s when he died and still worked at Samples,if only part time.

Mainely,Bob-Who especially liked Hutch`s story about how they used to feed lobster to the inmates at the Lincoln county jail.Seems the county felt there wasn`t any call to feed good fish to bad men,so they got only lobster.

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