Goldfield burrs and spalted beech.

This has been a long time in its fraught evolution but, thankfully, the Myretoun Wood website is now operational; I do hope you find it readable and of some interest. My intention is to post a regular journal (not a blog) giving some detail of what I am currently making, any new or notable timbers and general matters relating to my work which I think worthy of comment.

GOLDFIELD BURRS:- Last year I sourced a selection of eucalyptus burrs, directly from a burr hunter in South West Australia; so-called goldfield burrs. These were rough turned in the “green” state and allowed to “dry” and stabilise for six months before the final stages of box production. A group of boxes showing the range of burr colours was completed a few weeks ago and these are now in the Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld. The finish on all of these boxes is, deliberately, mid polish only; high gloss on such “busy” wood does not look good. All are finished with cyanoacrylate and waxed.

SPALTED BEECH:- I am currently working on a group of boxes made with spalted beech which, hopefully, will be part of a small display in the Perth art festival marquee during May. These all come from a very large local tree, felled around ten years ago, from which I am allowed to remove slices. Because the best fungal patterns produced within the wood result in those areas becoming softer than the unaffected wood, all selected pieces have been stabilised to harden them. Each one of these will have an outer shell of spalted beech with an inner shell of holly bonded to it. As with the burr boxes these will not be highly polished.

Other:- Both of these entries should have accompanying images but my computing capability has not yet reached that skill level. This will be rectified soon. The goldfield burr boxes can be viewed individually under “boxes.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:- With thanks to Alan McGregor without whose patience this website would not have been completed.