# Tamarisk Bangle



## BangleGuy (Dec 23, 2012)

A friend of mine found some great Tamarisk (salt cedar) burl on his property and I traded him a bangle for a couple pieces. This is some really beautiful wood from a really ugly tree. It is hard to find nice bangle sized pieces due to the bark inclusions, but I really like the figure and grain so its worth the trouble. This is a copper size 8 bangle, finished with a thin coat of CA, followed by shellawax.

I have a free tutorial you can download. Just visit my site and look for the tutorials page. Thanks for looking. 

Eric

[attachment=15113][attachment=15114]


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## cabomhn (Dec 24, 2012)

This wood is beautiful, love the look of the grain in this.


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## shadetree_1 (Dec 24, 2012)

BangleGuy said:


> A friend of mine found some great Tamarisk (salt cedar) burl on his property and I traded him a bangle for a couple pieces. This is some really beautiful wood from a really ugly tree. It is hard to find nice bangle sized pieces due to the bark inclusions, but I really like the figure and grain so its worth the trouble. This is a copper size 8 bangle, finished with a thin coat of CA, followed by shellawax.
> 
> I have a free tutorial you can download. Just visit my site and look for the tutorials page. Thanks for looking.
> 
> Eric



We have tons of the Tamarisk down here, it is considered a weed tree and it is an invasive species, personally I think it is a beautiful wood.


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## barry richardson (Dec 24, 2012)

Beautiful bangles! Glad to see there actually is a use for Tamarisk!


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## hobbit-hut (Dec 24, 2012)

I like the grain it it too!!!! From weed to beauitful bangle what a deal.


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## BangleGuy (Dec 24, 2012)

Thanks guys! Now when I drive around town I find myself scoping out the tamarisk looking for burls. The tree this wood came from was about 16-18" in diameter, which is unusually large since the tamarisk is mostly a bush with lots of branches. Here is a picture of a Tamarisk "bush", (not the one we cut down, it was much bigger);

[attachment=15122]​


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## shadetree_1 (Dec 24, 2012)

BangleGuy said:


> Thanks guys! Now when I drive around town I find myself scoping out the tamarisk looking for burls. The tree this wood came from was about 16-18" in diameter, which is unusually large since the tamarisk is mostly a bush with lots of branches. Here is a picture of a Tamarisk "bush", (not the one we cut down, it was much bigger);
> 
> ​



Not a bush down here my friend, I cut one up for firewood last week that was 3' in dia. and that size is not unusual around here, I have 30 of them within 5 miles of me that size. I plan on isolating and saving the burl in the future, I'm sure I can get some great knife blocks from it and some real cool pen blanks.


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## BangleGuy (Dec 24, 2012)

shadetree_1 said:


> BangleGuy said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks guys! Now when I drive around town I find myself scoping out the tamarisk looking for burls. The tree this wood came from was about 16-18" in diameter, which is unusually large since the tamarisk is mostly a bush with lots of branches. Here is a picture of a Tamarisk "bush", (not the one we cut down, it was much bigger);
> ...




Sounds like a great plan Joe. The wood is really pretty if you can get it without the bark inclusions. I guess I say "bush" due to all of the branches growing out of multiple trunks and the ground. I have several hundred growing on my property with some approaching 10" dia at the base. No burls though! I checked already:teethlaugh: 

The branches make for an adventure cutting them down. I have ruined more chain saw blades cutting down tamarisk than I can count.


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## shadetree_1 (Dec 24, 2012)

Yep it's just like the Shaggy Bark Cedar we have up north, the bark catches all the dust and dirt and small rocks when the wind blows and the next thing you know, you have a dead chain!


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## barry richardson (Dec 24, 2012)

+1 what Shadetree said! There are some absolutely massive ones around here. Usually around old homesteads where they were intentionally planted, before they got a bad rep. I usually dont give them a second look. I've used the wood before for flatwork, pretty hard and strong, but not that interesting in appearance. But that burl looks cool! I got my radar on for it now!


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## barry richardson (Dec 24, 2012)

Oh yea, another fun fact. According to the wood fact site that I believe DKDM posted a link to, it is one of the woods mentioned in the Bible. Some may find that cool...


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## DKMD (Dec 24, 2012)

That's a great looking bangle, Eric! Copper is a tough match for me visually, but I think it looks great with this wood... Now if you can just convince Barry and Joe to go get you some more of that burl!


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