[Bobbo]

I've been removing a big old ivy which cracked my wall many years ago. in th recent high winds the wall finally fell.......

The ivy had grown long and tortuous trunk which Is now cut up into pieces approx 18 inches long,....Some of these are about 4 to 5 inches in diameter. I noticed that the wood is very close and fine grained and, in it's still 'green' state is a nice, almost pure white. I am going to put some aside to see how it dries and seasons.

Has anyone here used ivy?......does anyone know of any carvings in ivy or other details of it's use please.

I have tried the search provision here without any result and cannot even find too much out on the net....

Any info or pointers would be gratefully recieved.....Bob

[rmiller3]

Bobbo, on Feb 6 2007, 11:20 AM, said:

I've been removing a big old ivy which cracked my wall many years ago. in th recent high winds the wall finally fell.......

The ivy had grown long and tortuous trunk which Is now cut up into pieces approx 18 inches long,....Some of these are about 4 to 5 inches in diameter. I noticed that the wood is very close and fine grained and, in it's still 'green' state is a nice, almost pure white. I am going to put some aside to see how it dries and seasons.

Has anyone here used ivy?......does anyone know of any carvings in ivy or other details of it's use please.

I have tried the search provision here without any result and cannot even find too much out on the net....

Any info or pointers would be gratefully recieved.....Bob

Don't know about Ivy, but I think that recycling old/dead yard exotics is a very useful way to expand our vocabulary of woods. I'm very concerned that lovely "African" and "Brazilian" and "Indonesian" hardwoods, however lovely, are partly responsible for desecration of our world's forests.

Ralph

[Janel]

Should Bob paint the ends with wax emulsion, or paint, to retard the moisture loss from the ends thereby reducing the likelyhood of checking/cracking? I think that I would.

Should Bob strip the bark from the wood?

I would write the date/year the wood was cut, so that years from now you will actually know and not be guessing when it was cut .

If you knew the scientific name of the plant, perhaps then you might find something about it's properties through searches. Sorry, I am no help with that. What part of the world are you in?

[Bobbo]

Thank you for your replies,....

I have selected a piece and removed the bark and dipped both ends in melted candle wax.

I hope to get better results than with my attempts to salvage some wind fallen hornbeam which checked badly and quite quickly despite wax and careful temperatures. However, I recently noted that there have been enquiries among the woodworking fraternity here in the UK for details of how hornbeam was used to make smoothing plane soles as "this technology has now been lost"........

[CalvinDrews]

It will usually crack (I believe). I have seen this sort of thing in my yard dry as a bone but brittle and cracked. Maybie I am wrong?

[Toothy]

[quote name='Bobbo' date='Feb 6 2007, 09:05 PM' post='6995']
Bobbo
You have started well. Dip the ends of the logs +- 3" into molten candle wax, leave the bark on and store in a cool dry ie out of the rain, sun and wind, place. Mark as Janel suggest and remember average drying time is 1yr per 1" diam of the log. You could also treat for beetle before storing. If you have a calender programme on your computer tell it to remind you annually to check the logs!
Toothy

[Janel]

What do you suggest for beetle treatment?

Finally, a good idea for the calendar on my computer!

Janel

[Debbie]

Ivy, you want to carve it, you tools have to be sharp and a minimun of rc60 unless you like sharpening an awful lot. The wood is tough, stringy and never really dries because of a posible high oil content or composition of the fibres. If you can come to an agreement with your carving piece beautiful things can and have been carved out of ivy.

Hornbeam is a wonderful wood, very hard to carve, but using machinery can be worked easily, hand saws, and hand drills have no problem, but as I have said - it is not a wood for carving it is for making tools of all sorts.
If you are harvasting hornbeam it must be cut in lengths of 2 - 3 feet, the bark must be removed and each log should be soaked in warm pentacryl for at least a day then the ends sealed in wax. It should be resoaked in pentacryl every month for approximately 6 months. In that 6 months it should be stored in a cool relativity dry area. After 6 months it can be worked, a rough cut out of what you want to make of it is made at this time, it is then soaked in pentacryl again for another 3-6 months until moisture is gone the your tool may be finished.

This way of handling hornbeam is for the general public, someone with little experiance in curing of different woods. This is not ment to be an insult to anyone but to help everyone enjoy their experiance with wood and to try new things with this wonderful medium.

Regards,
Debbie

[Toothy]

Janel
I'll get back to you re the beetle treatment when I have had time to go to the w/room. I must admit I don't follow my own advice but then I learned yrs ago that a priest is to be followed and a doctor shows the way .

Bobbo, Debbie
I was lucky to get a piece of +-15yr bougainvilla. It was yellow inside and with light brown sapwood, was fairly hard and carved nicely. My piece was +-40mm diam and had no cracks. This may be an idea for others to try some time.
Toothy

[Toothy]

Hi Janel
Sometimes I feel like the Internal Revenue service. I have at last got into the workroom in a way that has allowed me to find the beetle treatment I previously mentioned.
The mixture is a solution of 20 g/litre Pentachlorophenol, 25 g/l Zinc Naphthenate in white spirit (mineral turpentine). It may be sprayed on with the correct protective gear, painted on with rubber gloves and mask or the wood may be soaked in the solution (the safest and best). IT IS POISONOUS. When dry the wood can be finished as normal. I think the Zinc Naphthenate is for fungus but am not sure, maybe some out there knows and will let me know.
Toothy