Prickly pear.

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392
Location
Cornwall, England
I have always thought of this as a cactus but I needed some wood to make a pair of goblets for a commission and only had wet wood so someone at our club has given me two lumps of wood that has Prickly pear written on it. Anyone know anything about it? I'll get some photos up tomorrow if it'll help. It's very heavy and dark wood.

pete
 
That's what I always thought and then someone PM'd me this. The 'leaves' look the same as I know but I've never seen one quite like that before. I'll photo the wood tomorrow and post it. Really solid stuff. Be interesting to turn

Pete
 
Wow. :eek: I've lived around prickly pears in the southwest US all my life, and haven't seen any as big as the one in that picture you linked to, Pete. Looks like the Aussies grow 'em big down there.

I can hear him now...

im_crocodile_dundee_07.jpg


You call that a prickly pear, mate? Naaaaaah...THIS is a prickly pear!
 
Vaughn you are just brilliant. :thumb::clap::clap::clap::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Anyone on this forum eat prickly pears?

I've not eaten the leaves... but you can make a jam/jelly from the fruit... the year I lived in Tucson, we picked about half a bushel or so and tried to make jam... don't know what I did wrong, but it never set.. we had prickly pear syrup and it was nasty tasting. :rofl::rofl:

You can buy cactus candy at most of the roadside stops across the southwest.. never tried it myself though.
 
Vaughn, Where is the link you mention? I dont see one. If they have any turning use, I'll be all over them, as they are abundant in these parts. I've seen very large old pickly pears around here, mostly around homesites and in parks though.
 
I've seen prickly pear that big (rarely) around Phoenix and Tucson. Mostly in very old desert landscapes where they are watered regularly. But, I've never seen one with a trunk/stem "woody" enough to turn. If your piece looks like wood on the inside, it is probably something else (variety of pear maybe?), but if it looks different from that, not the usual grain or ring structure, it could be a cactus. The "trunk" of a prickly pear is actually older pads. As new pads grow out of the top, the older pads slowly change shape and outer texture to support the new pads. But if they are from down under, I guess they could look the same and be totally different on the inside. Curious to see what you turn out of it. Could be a whole new source of turning material.
 
This is what te wood looks like before tirning. I have rounded off one blank so far and there is no grain to speak iof, lot of dust coming offity. It is pretty heavy stuff and yet fels soft to turn.



Click for large image

Pete
 
This may be one of those situations where the name of the wood has nothing to do with its namesake. There is a grape wood tree. It is not a grape tree and has nothing to do with grapes. Same difference, mebbe. :dunno:
 
Anyone on this forum eat prickly pears?

We have lots of them here in Spain, and we do eat their fruit as well. However you must not eat much of them or you won't use your toilet for about a week.
They are known to be very, very astringent.

What I didn't know is that they had such wood, so I have to look for a big one to fell.
 
Vaughn, Where is the link you mention? I dont see one. If they have any turning use, I'll be all over them, as they are abundant in these parts. I've seen very large old pickly pears around here, mostly around homesites and in parks though.

Barry, here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetannykid/2494767976/

Pete had the link embedded in his second post in this thread.

From the looks of the last pics Pete posted, I think it probably is really from the cactus, not some other namesake wood as Frank mentioned. I know the cholla cactus dries into a pretty woody substance, and I don't think it shows any growth rings either. (Although it's hollow in the middle, too.)
 
Here's the wood turned for those who haven't seen it on the projects thread.


It is actually quite soft though it doesn't seem that way when in a lump. It cuts a dust, no shavings at all and the grain is like lacewood whatever way you look at it. Shines up on the bevel and takes a polish really well as you can see from the pics.

If you've got one in your garden it is apparently classed as a weed.

pete
 
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