My elusive Oak Quarry: Closer to HOLM

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:01 pm

I know this is a bit strange or obsessive, but it's my favorite wood ever for turning small pens and knobs, etc. Very hard to find, Holm Oak, is actually an Evergreen variety of oak. I had extracted some small pieces out of antique European coffin-planes before. Lately I found a small stash from a California e#ay seller who didn't know how to describe it. Supposedly this tree was in the Gold Rush countryside and had been seen on Little House on the Prairie as well! Anyway, the grain striping is beautiful, and the grain features are not furrowed... it's visually interesting and texture-wise highly smooth at the same time. Quite unlike our usual deciduous oak lumbers.

: Holm Blanks.jpg (118.68 KiB) Viewed 24075 times

Enjoy y'allselves,

Chris

cmn135 · Post by **cmn135** » Tue Aug 08, 2017 6:43 pm

Well don't leave us hanging...show us a pen or a knob in it!

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reible · Post by **reible** » Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:16 pm

With about 600 species of oak and of that 60 native to the USA you could spend a long time getting to know them.....

I do like the look of that one, and a pen(s) should be a great use for what you have. Make sure you post pictures, 'cause no pictures = it didn't happen.

Ed

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:20 pm

Pen plans are being made

. For now, a review of some past Holm Oak episodes which had whetted my appetite:

One antique plane which I trued up (on the OPR) and sold, made of beautiful dense Holm Oak:

: HolmOakCoffintruingOPR.jpg (127.07 KiB) Viewed 24021 times

: HoldOakPlane in Case.jpg (123.31 KiB) Viewed 24021 times

Another old plane was cracked and heavily tannin-stained, but I saved enough wood out of it to make a new knob to help "flip" a hulking No. 4-1/2 plane:

: Holm_Oak_Knob.jpg (111.54 KiB) Viewed 24021 times

Thanks for watching, I've enjoyed this!

Chris

Hobbyman2 · Post by **Hobbyman2** » Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:40 pm

love the grain detail!

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:37 am

I selected probably the 'least choice' piece out of my stash for the Art Deco pen kit shown here. This is a premium-style pen but it only needs a small length of wood. I do like how this variety of oak is utterly smooth in texture. From what I can see, Holm Oak is very hard to locate here in the USA, but I see online that some Australian sellers have very similar-looking Bull Oak or Buloke wood:

: IMG_1808.jpg (110.45 KiB) Viewed 23769 times

Happy woodworking!
Chris

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 1:58 pm

Here's another...

: CW_holm_oak_pen.jpg (103.22 KiB) Viewed 23664 times

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 1:17 pm

One more pen from the "special stash"... These guys come out glass-smooth and deep-looking...

: Pen_for_M.jpg (149.28 KiB) Viewed 21304 times

- Chris

masonsailor2 · Post by **masonsailor2** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:48 am

Beautiful Chris. That wood grain is exceptional.
Paul

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:49 pm

Not to mention that the surface the the pen is showcased upon has gorgeous grain. What are we looking at there?

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