Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knows where I can obtain a piece of Pear 50 by
50 by 15 cm? Preferably in Germany. I'm somehow obsessed by the Idea of my very own Go board and Pear would be really nice, but I've been unable to get hold of a piece.Regard, Jann
Have you considered using a veneer such as:
You must have some damn big pear trees in Germany if you can get a piece 50 by
50 by 15 cm out of one of them. (For those not familiar with the metric system, that's roughly 20" square by 6" thick.)That would make for a pretty heavy Go board, too, somewhere around 20 kg, I think. Perhaps you meant 50cm x 50cm x 15mm ?
I don't have any suggestions for sources... but you might think about gluing it up from smaller pieces. I'm sure it's a *lot* easier to find four pieces
12 to 13 cm wide, than one piece 50 cm wide. :-)-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Pear wood Is used a lot for musical instruments and like most fruit woods they do not grow large trees It is difficult to find in the states. Be damned if I would know where to begin to look for it in Germany. It is not a wood that is generally commercially Harvested. I knew a guy a few yesr back that made Harpsichords he used the pearwood for the linkage to strike the strings. If there is a site for Musical Instrument they may be able to set you in the right direction. I may be able to locate this guy and ask him Let me know if you strike out.
Good Luck, George
Well, one Website says Pear grows to a maximum of 60cm, so I thought its possible.
No, i'm pretty sure I want it roundabout 45x45x10cm, adding a little for working on it i settled for 50. And, if I can find a 50x50cm piece, thickness shouldn't be any problem, i think.
Well, yes, but it wouldn't be as beautiful as one piece. :-)
Jann
can't find Pear I will have to settle for Oak or something less rare than Pear.
Jann
Possible, but just barely -- and it will be fairly likely to warp.
Think about the weight. At 50x50x15, that's 37.5 liters. At roughly 500g/l, it's close to 20kg. This will *not* be portable.
Nor will the wood be easy to find. Why do you want it so thick?
Actually, it will. Think about how the board would have to be oriented within the trunk of the tree. For any given width, the thicker the board, the larger the tree must be. Small trees, and hence small boards, are much easier to find than large trees, and hence large boards.
It will be *much* less likely to warp. And depending on how the wood is sawn, it could be much *more* beautiful than a single piece. Flatsawn American Sycamore is a fairly boring-looking wood, without much figure at all. But quartersawn American Sycamore has a beautifully dramatic, highly figured grain. Possibly quartersawn pear is more attractive than flatsawn also. You certainly won't get a 50cm-wide quartersawn board out of a pear tree.
Even if you're using flatsawn wood, you still may achieve a more attractive appearance by edge-gluing boards that have been resawn from a thicker piece, and book-matching the grain, than you can get from a single board -- assuming you can find a single board that size, which I very much doubt. Not in that species anyway.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
I would like to inlay the lines into the wood, instead of just painting them, so in case I make a mistake I need it thicker to be able to start again. Finally it shall be about 4", for aesthetics and stability.
Oh, yes, your're right.
I'm sorry, my english leaves me here, what is flat- and quartersawn?
I'm beginning to accept that, thanks a lot, can you point me to a species which has about the same look but is more readily available in one piece?
Jann
A picture's worth a thousand words...
the time. :-) I don't know a lot about wood, but if I put lines where the pieces come together it shouldn't be noticeable.
Hmm, what about 361 pieces of glued pear, if I would only know where to get some. (We do have Markets which sell Wood for construction or furniture making, but pear just isn't common ...)
Jann
I bought a plank of pear that was well over 50 cm at the thick end, near the base of the trunk. That was in the mid 1970s.
Remember, in Europe, pear trees have been grown for wood for centuries, and plantations were founded in colonial Africa when the Swiss and Alsatian sources looked like running low.
Obviously, you will never get big boards out of fruit orchards.
Big endgrain pieces of pear have been used for wood engravings for a long time.
Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a
"We have achieved the inversion of the single note." __ Peter Ustinov as Karlheinz Stckhausen
I'm sorry but I'm not too familiar with Old World trees. :-)
Is American Sycamore available in Europe? Those trees get *huge*: 150 or 175 cm diameter is not at all unusual.
Beech is a possibility -- and it also has a beautiful figure when quartersawn, at least the species of beech that grows in the U.S.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Coming back to this question ... Because I would like a board like these:
But I cannot afford Kaya ...
Jann
I don't really care if the tree was cut in Germany or Zimbabwe or some place else. :-)
It seems that Sycamore is likely to be planted at roadsides over here, if I could just find my chainsaw now ... Actually, I don't like the colour that much, might be an alternative if nothing else happens to be available.
Beech is definitely an alternative, I was also thinking about a purplewood board with a brighter border. Does purplewood grow large enough?
Jann
Purpleheart can grow to heights of 170' (approx. 52 meters) and diameters up to
4'(1.2 meters).
-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA
It's not the same tree. What's called "sycamore" in Europe is actually a maple, and as far as I know it does not grow nearly as large.
See a picture of quartersawn American Sycamore here:
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
I have bought Pear at this company.
Joe
Yeah, thats the one I thought of, haven't seen one over a meter yet.
Thanks, but thats way too, um, checkered.
Jann
Sounds just about right, so next time I get around the Lumber Market I let'em show me their Pear, Purpleheart and Beech. Although Beech is quite too common in houses here, its just missing the exotic touch. :-) Oh, and some Ebony for the lines. Getting those straight will be some challenge ...
Any more alternatives?
Jann
On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 02:53:58 GMT, spam snipped-for-privacy@milmac.com (Doug Miller) scribbled
Careful with the names, Doug. You're right in saying that what the Brits call "sycamore" is a maple: Acer pseudoplatanus. But the London Plane tree, which is planted on roadsides and in cities is a hybrid between North American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and a Balkan species (Platanus orientalis). The figure on the Plane tree is apparently very similar to our sycamore.
I just checked translations in German at:
Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address
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