Sassafras

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Sealeveler

Tony
Corporate Member
Had a friend drop by with 12 4x6x5' boards of sassafras and 3 6" dia cedar logs and all he wants in return is a cedar and sassafras cane.The wood has been in a barn since the mid 60s so it is dry and ready for carving.Maybe some decoys,canes and signs are hiding in it if I can figure out how to find them and I know (if no pictures it didn't happen).Tony
 

PChristy

New User
Phillip
Tony, just make sure you take pics of the final outcome - I would love to see what the sassafras looks like
 

Robert Arrowood

New User
Robert Arrowood
Good luck with the sassafras.Every time I try to use it to make a hiking stick or cane.The stuff really gets to my eyes.Of course as dry as your stuff is it may be ok.When I work with it it's green.
 

Bigdog72

New User
Geoff
thisthreadisworthlesswithoutp.gif
 

DaveO

New User
DaveO
Sassafras has got to be the best smelling wood around. Mill it and your whole shop with smell like root beer. It is a very porous wood with an open grain like Oak. It's rather soft, but still usable. The natural color is a light brown that darkens with time. I haven't finished it yet, but would suspect that it would behave like Red Oak when finishing.

MTCW,
Dave:)
 

erasmussen

RAS
Corporate Member
I keep a little around to cut now and then makes the place smell good.
To me its a little to open grained, like a softer red oak, dosnt turn too good:nah:
 

Sealeveler

Tony
Corporate Member
1st cane I carved was out of same pile of sassafras and carved great and was not very grain directional with chisels.It soaked the first coat of poly then 3 more coats and looked fine.The cane needed to be sanded more but my father was speechless because he thought I was carving the cane for myself.I don't have a lathe so it was just planed to shape.Tony
 

Splint Eastwood

New User
Matt
1st cane I carved was out of same pile of sassafras and carved great and was not very grain directional with chisels.It soaked the first coat of poly then 3 more coats and looked fine.The cane needed to be sanded more but my father was speechless because he thought I was carving the cane for myself.I don't have a lathe so it was just planed to shape.Tony

Sounds like a fun wood to work with, do you have any pics of it? Where does one get? I don't recall ever seeing at WC or Kling

Matt
 

G_ville_worker

New User
Bryan
Took a look at your gallery. Nice canes and cool jig. But I got caught by this pic:



:crossedlips:

Is this the Venus Di Milo? Or for a wood mag we don't know about? :gar-Bi
 

Sealeveler

Tony
Corporate Member
Nope.Had back surgery and was hard headed and didn't listen to doc,now I'm disabled and have to do my whittling and anything else done while laying down.Tony
 

stave

New User
stave
I love carving sassafrass and it tools well too.. It is one of the only truly "brown" woods and carves surprisingly like mahogany. I have made numerous croizers (the shepherd's staff with the hook on the end) for Bishops of several faiths. I made them from laminations 1/8" thick. Made a form from MDF for the inside and used a strip of aluminum for the outside along with every clamp I could find. Pretty simple and fast. They were 1 1/8" dia and I used a roundover bit to shape them. The bed on my website with the fish and curvy tops was made from sassafrass.
Have fun with the wood, it is fun to work with.

Stave
 
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