lilac wood

E

Edmonton_hunter

Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
68
hey guys a neighbour of mine just ripped up a large lilac from his back yard the main trunk is about 6-8 inches around. is this wood suitable for knife handles? would it need to be stabilized?
thanks
 
Get the rootburl if he dug it up and let it dry slowly.
Lilac has a twisty grain and wants to tear apart as it dries.
If you can get it to dry without cracking to much then it would be a great wood to stabilize. This is what you can expect as you shape your handle.

Bob
twisthawk2.jpg
 
Wow is right. Got me doing some searching on "lilac wood." I want to know more.

Here's some stuff from Wikipedia:

Syringa (Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to Europe and Asia.

The wood of lilac is close-grained, diffuse-porous, extremely hard and one of the densest in Europe. The sapwood is typically cream-coloured and the heartwood has various shades of brown and purple. Lilac wood has traditionally been used for engraving, musical instruments, knife handles etc. When drying, the wood has a tendency to be encurved as a twisted material, and to split into narrow sticks. The wood of Common Lilac is even harder than for example that of Syringa josikaea.

Here's a site: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/lilac.htm
 
Last edited:
Cool thread. I always wondered about lilac wood, as I had a monster lilac tree in my back yard growing up. I mean, I had a tree house in it! There are some really cool woods out there that are not all that common, some due to "shrubs" not commonly reaching large sizes.
 
Robert Mayo is a master for sure...what he isn't telling though is his house is surrounded by Lilac!
 
You're a giver, aren't you? :p

I don't believe in your promises anymore; you told me I could shave with the cable damascus razor you made and when I left oak grove yesterday, I still had a sandpaper chin... :foot:;):D
 
Why you got lilac? Hell no! All I remember was gnarly old thorny and viney sh_t (with flames and fumes instead of flowers) growing around your place.

Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss visiting you for the world! Hell, I might just stay there and make damascus the whole time. The heck with my folks. They only want to play with their grandchild anyway. Last time I got back to their place after visiting you they said, hell you're back so soon. :eek::(:o:D
 
Farmer Phil said:
Why you got lilac? Hell no! All I remember was gnarly old thorny and viney sh_t (with flames and fumes instead of flowers) growing around your place.

Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss visiting you for the world! Hell, I might just stay there and make damascus the whole time. The heck with my folks. They only want to play with their grandchild anyway. Last time I got back to their place after visiting you they said, hell you're back so soon. :eek::(:o:D
Click to expand...

Let me know the dates and we will have a Mini-Hammer-In.;):D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top