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Maui wood for thread chasing

Emiliano Achaval

Emiliano Achaval

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Maui, Hawaii
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hawaiiankoaturner.com
Who knew! I have an unlimited, 100 lifetimes supply of a great wood to chase threads!! Its called kiawe here. Also known as "Algarrobo Blanco" Its an invasive species introduced to Hawaii by a priest in the early 1800. Its mainly use for charcoal and BBQ wood now. What a waste!! I mae one box yesterday, very nice wood!! Super hard and dense. Also use for post for fence making. I have seen some posts over 100 years old, still standing, still good, imposible to pound in a nail!! Picture below is the box I made out of Kiawe. I didn't try it at first, thats why I went looking for woods all over the world, because a friend told me its a type a mesquite, and would not work, WRONG! lol Very excited to have tried it!! Aloha
 

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That's great news. Maybe I'll find some obscure Texas wood with similar characteristics. My thread chasing tools are about to celebrate their first birthday and still haven't been used. I have a pretty large assortment of wood and something ought to work.
 
Hoping to learn more about this wood and especially where else it might be found, I was pleasantly surprised to find it listed in the Wood Database. http://www.wood-database.com/algarrobo-blanco/.
Cocobolo, mesquite and boxwood are considerably harder, according to the database. Since Emiliano has had good success chasing threads in it, perhaps some of you Texans could try it on the related mesquite and give us a report.
 
Dean Center said:
Hoping to learn more about this wood and especially where else it might be found, I was pleasantly surprised to find it listed in the Wood Database. http://www.wood-database.com/algarrobo-blanco/.
Cocobolo, mesquite and boxwood are considerably harder, according to the database. Since Emiliano has had good success chasing threads in it, perhaps some of you Texans could try it on the related mesquite and give us a report.
Click to expand...
Bill is right, I was told Mesquite is not good for thread chasing. Kiawe or Algarrobo Blanco is better than the cocobolo that I got, perhaps because the Kiawe was dry normally and the Cocobolo in a Kiln. Super dusty!! Dustiest wood I have ever seen!! Kiawe makes look like Allan Batty, super long thin ribbons that gives you goosebumps as they fly and float in the air!!
 
Mesquite chips when you hand chase works great for powered threading. Bill use epoxy. cut some grooves in the wood and fill them with epoxy. then turn away the wood leaving the epoxy to chase the threads. It's not as good as many woods but it chases pretty nicely.
 
Keith Lauret uses pewter on soft woods. It melts around 450F so it won't scorch the wood.
His process is slick, cut a dove tail groove in the top and bottom piece before final shaping of the outside on both. Pour the pewter into each groove. It is ready to turn in seconds. Still hot..
The base and lid can both be finish turned and threaded. The pewter can be hidden or shown as an accent feature.

Dovetail grove required to keep the pewter from popping out. Pewter does not bond to the wood somit requires a mechanical hold.

Rule number 1 in working with molten pewter. Hot metal looks just like cold metal.
 
When I was in college I took a metals class and we cast some aluminum. The instructor told us that the metal is still hot even when it solidifies. Of course on of the students stuck his thumb on it to test that. Don't know how he kept from screaming other than the shear embarrassment for doing something that stupid.
 
john lucas said:
When I was in college I took a metals class and we cast some aluminum. The instructor told us that the metal is still hot even when it solidifies. Of course on of the students stuck his thumb on it to test that. Don't know how he kept from screaming other than the shear embarrassment for doing something that stupid.
Click to expand...

Well I can't begin to tell you how many times I have tested the chainsaw muffler after sawing.
It hurts just thinking about it.
Both physically and for being mentally inept. 🙂

The muffler is the in the same spot on the saw, always hot after running, and yet somehow I manage to touch it once or twice a year.....
 
Bill, does the Desert Iron Wood work for hand chased threads?

I just bought a piece of property and discovered it has a large, about 5 inch diameter boxwood on it... I won't cut it though. I have heard that dog wood works okay some times.

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
Bill, does the Desert Iron Wood work for hand chased threads?

I just bought a piece of property and discovered it has a large, about 5 inch diameter boxwood on it... I won't cut it though. I have heard that dog wood works okay some times.

robo hippy
Click to expand...

I couldn't tell you hardly anything about chasing threads as I'm still at the very beginning steps. Our club has had several demos on the subject and I've learned that most domestic woods including mesquite won't work very well except with a lot of reinforcing with CA. The name alone, desert ironwood, makes it sound like it might work. I have a piece of pitch black wood, very heavy, looks like a black brick ... it might work. I have lots of cocobolo and was hoping that it would work, but apparently it also is not very good. I have some very old live oak root ball that I would like to try. I have a big piece of Corian® ... a sink cutout ... I hear that it is a great "wood" for thread chasing. There are some dogwood trees on property that I own, but I wouldn't cut them unless they die because of drought.
 
hockenbery said:
Keith Lauret uses pewter on soft woods. It melts around 450F so it won't scorch the wood.
His process is slick, cut a dove tail groove in the top and bottom piece before final shaping of the outside on both. Pour the pewter into each groove. It is ready to turn in seconds. Still hot..
The base and lid can both be finish turned and threaded. The pewter can be hidden or shown as an accent feature.

Dovetail grove required to keep the pewter from popping out. Pewter does not bond to the wood somit requires a mechanical hold.

Rule number 1 in working with molten pewter. Hot metal looks just like cold metal.
Click to expand...
I just a nice big box of Boxwood from England. I will be using it for inserts on my Koa boxes. I think I pass on the melted pewter! LOL
 
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