On my last trip to my preferred wood supplier, he handed me a piece of Monkey Puzzle and challenged me to turn it. It was a cutting that, he said, would be uncommonly tricky and he wasn’t wrong. The Monkey Puzzle has been here since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Today, jays and squirrels feast on its nuts. Reaching up to 30 m in height, monkey puzzle has a stout, almost cylindrical trunk with smooth bark that has a purplish-brown colour. It is characterised by distinctive leathery and spiky leaves and sharply pointed scales of the cones.
The density of this piece was about as ununiform as I have ever experienced. Turning this without excessive tool chatter and surface tearing proved a challenge, though sharp tools and gentle passes won out. It still took a lot of sanding. Nevertheless I’m pleased with the result, which was standed to P400 and finished with Chestnut products friction polish.
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